Elvis, Me, and the Postcard Winter

Elvis, Me, and the Postcard Winter is the second book in Leslie Gentile’s series about the challenging life of 12-year-old Truly, with the first book being Elvis, Me, and the Lemonade Stand Summer (www.cmreviews.ca/node/2271). It is 1979 at the Eagle Shores Trailer Park on Vancouver Island. Truly now lives with Andy El, a Salish elder who rescued her after her mother Clarice abandoned her. “I learned to be a loner. It made things easier that way.” (p. 3) Truly must rely on the kindness of others when she is left alone, and her adopted family has become a solid anchor for her. She has made a friend of one of the other inhabitants of the trailer park – an Elvis impersonator named Aaron Kingsley. When he leaves to pursue his career, she thinks that is the end of their friendship. However, she starts receiving postcards from him and is amazed when they announce a special gift from Elvis is coming soon!

Elvis sends Truly a secondhand guitar so that she can develop her love of music. Elvis tells Truly, “Learning to play the guitar sure has helped me through the years, and I thought that you’d like to have a chance to learn to play too.” (p. 17) At first, Truly is very intimidated by the new instrument. Andy El’s nephew Raymond gives her a few lessons, and Andy El’s two granddaughters, Linda and Agnes, encourage her to play the guitar for them. They also love to sing, and soon, the threesome starts performing songs for the family. “It was like magic to hear our voices weave together!” (p. 51) Truly has also taken responsibility for Andy El’s puppy Gracie. She is finding some stability and peace in her life, as well as starting to feel she is part of an extended family.

However, Truly is shocked and bewildered to learn that her mother Clarice has returned. She now has a job, and wants Truly to live with her. She is not drinking and wants to make amends for abandoning her daughter. Truly is hesitant to trust her mother again but slowly adapts to her presence. She wonders how long the new attitude will last and dreads losing the stability of living with Andy El and the support of her adopted family.

Once again, Leslie Gentile has written a powerful and emotionally charged novel about the difficulties faced by the brave and resilient Truly. She becomes part of a new family when the Salish matriarch Andy El takes her into her home at the trailer park. Truly, her mother Clarice, Andy El and her extended adopted family are all fully developed characters. Truly and her cousins experience bullying and racist comments by other students at school and on the school bus. These students see them as “inferior” because of they live on the reserve. In the face of this horrible treatment, the three young women persevere and concentrate on their music and friendship.

The postcards and Truly’s letters to Elvis provide readers with insight into her feelings about life. Although the character of Elvis appears only briefly in person and in absentia through his postcards, he is an important influence in this touching novel. His concern for Truly, even from a distance, is both kind and uplifting. Truly has been abandoned by her mother and left to rely on the kindness of strangers. Elvis’ sending her the guitar is both life-affirming and encouraging for Truly.

Elvis, Me, and the Postcard Winter deals with many topics, including child welfare, family relationships, poverty, unemployment, abandonment, bullying, racism, music, friendship, responsibility, kindness, and Indigenous culture. Gentile has a powerful message about the importance of belonging. In the words of Elvis, “You got yourself a real good family here.” (p. 200)