Up the Hill to Home. Jennifer Bort Yacovissi

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      “The author creates believable characters whose lives contain plenty of passion and tragedy but... history itself is the novel’s best feature. The author has done her homework, infusing her work with convincing details of 19th- and early-20th-century city life.”

      —Kirkus Reviews

      “This is the book you will carry around with you - on the porch swing and waiting in line at the post office – to see how our great-grandparents lived in these United States once upon a time…

      — Rafael Alvarez, author of Tales from the Holy Land

      “…a strong, serene, uplifting debut novel [from] a gifted writer with a firm grasp of American history, a fine way of turning a phrase, and a crisp sense of humor.”

      — Bryan Crockett, Ph.D., author of Love’s Alchemy: A John Donne Mystery

      Up the Hill

      to Home

      A Novel

      Up the Hill

      to Home

      A Novel

      Jennifer Bort Yacovissi

      Apprentice House

      Loyola University Maryland

      Baltimore, Maryland

      Copyright © 2015 by Jennifer Bort Yacovissi

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission from the publisher (except by reviewers who may quote brief passages).

      First Edition

      Printed in the United States of America

      Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-62720-039-4

      Paperback ISBN: 978-1-62720-056-1

      E-book ISBN: 978-1-62720-040-0

      Design by Maegan Smith

      Published by Apprentice House

      Apprentice House

      Loyola University Maryland

      4501 N. Charles Street

      Baltimore, MD 21210

      410.617.5265 • 410.617.2198 (fax)

      www.apprenticehouse.com [email protected]

      To Jeanie—always the brightest light in any room.

      Table of Contents

       Prologue 1

       Morning, Passion Sunday, 16 April 1933 3

       Charley Beck’s Happenstance 11

       Building 741 35

       Midday, Passion Sunday, 16 April 1933 63

       Baby 71

       The Barn out Back 83

       Jubal’s March 91

       Happy as a Bird 105

       Evening, Passion Sunday, 16 April 1933 111

       History Lessons 117

       Equilibrium 147

       Morning, Monday, 17 April 1933 167

       Endings and Beginnings 175

       Fred for Friends, Ferd for Family 205

       Evening, Monday, 17 April 1933 225

       Lonesome Avenue 235

       Babies, Babies, Babies 257

       Pigeons 273

       Tuesday, 18 April 1933 285

       Near Misses 309

       Movie Night 339

       Wednesday, 19 April 1933 355

       Thank You for Another Fine Year 381

       Thursday, 20 April 1933 419

       Bunnies and Chocolate 429

       Friday, 21 April 1933 443

       Saturday, 22 April 1933 453

      Palm Sunday, 23 April 1933 459

       Epilogue 465

      Acknowledgements 471

       About the Author 473

      Prologue

      The first entry in the diary of Emma Lucretia Miller Beck, age 38:

      Sunday, July 28, 1895, 9:15 p.m.: A beautiful day, a lovely bright cool night, when wee baby first came, only 7 ½ pounds, but lively as a little cricket, for she had not been in this world three hours when she put her little fist in her mouth and tried to suck it, for she was so hungry. The moon which was bright and clear was in its first quarter, Mercury as Morning Star and Venus as Evening Star were keeping watch over baby: Days length fourteen hours twenty-six minutes.

      Morning, Passion Sunday,

      16 April 1933

      Lillie stands at the top of the cellar stairs feeling for the light switch, which is just out of convenient arm’s reach. When Charley Beck makes the conversion from gaslight to electric—what, almost ten years ago now?—the work crew includes one