AN INTERIOR JOURNEY: FAMILY MOMENTS HEAT UP — A REVIEW

In the summer of 1976, during a heatwave that has gripped London, Gretta Riordan’s husband Robert goes off one morning on an errand…and disappears.

The event will bring Gretta and Robert’s grown children back to the homestead. Michael Francis, from his wife and children; Monica, from the countryside where she lives with her second husband Peter and his two children; and unexpectedly, Aoife, the youngest, who has been living in New York for years.

A convergence of the siblings will resurrect old rivalries, secrets, and hostilities. What secret has Aoife been hiding all these years? And why is Monica, the favorite, harboring such ill will for her younger sister, while sporting a “holier-than-thou” attitude? And what has happened to derail Michael’s marriage, even as part of him longs for an escape route?

The characters came alive on the pages, from perpetually loyal, yet flawed Michael and good-girl Monica, to the misunderstood Aoife, who has no trouble challenging the others when they constantly exclude her from almost everything. We come to know each of them as they tell their stories from their perspectives, in the third person narrative.

Who among us can’t relate to the roles siblings play within a family? And have any of us survived our families without realizing that secrets abound in the nooks and crannies?

Set in London, the English countryside, Ireland, and Manhattan, we can see the unfolding of events as the surroundings define and characterize them all.

Reading like a mystery, a confessional, and a family chronicle, Instructions for a Heatwave is Maggie O’Farrell at her best. She shows us the interior journey of a family from its inception, pulling back the cloak of secrecy to reveal the darkest and innermost feelings of them all. I like the fact that the author did not tie up all the loose ends, but brought them to a point at which they seem poised for resolution. Leaving it to the reader’s imagination to fill in the rest. Five stars.

SECRETS & BETRAYAL: A FAMILY JOURNEY — A REVIEW — FEB. 7

Before we begin Family Pictures, we know that the story will feature two women living on opposite coasts, whose lives are mysteriously connected. We also know that they are both married to husbands who travel too much and are about to have empty nests as their children go off to college.

But then we are launched into the world of Sylvie, whose first husband died tragically early in their marriage; we meet Evie, the teenage daughter, who has some secrets. And the author gives us a peek into Sylvie’s marriage to Mark, who seems perfect on the surface. But he does travel a lot and sometimes is impossible to reach. However, he always has good explanations: forgot to charge the phone; left it behind, etc.

I had already begun to suspect what might lie ahead for these characters, but I was engrossed in Sylvie’s story, and her relationship with her cold and emotionally unavailable mother. And with Evie, whom we soon see has an eating disorder.

Then, almost suddenly, we are thrust into another world on the opposite coast, that is inexplicably revealed when Evie visits friends in NY that she met on Facebook. She goes in spite of her stepfather’s seemingly irrational fear of her spending time anywhere on the East Coast. She and her mother decide not to tell him.

Well, at this point, it starts to really glare at me. Why Mark has these fears. And what unfolds will be every woman’s worst nightmare.

Maggie, who lives in Connecticut, presents as a Stepford Wife, but when her world crashes in around her, we see her vulnerabilities, her secret past, and why control is such an important issue for her.

In the final sections, these characters lives morph into new versions and they slowly rebuild. Their discoveries about themselves and who they really are is a lovely thing to see. Yet there are still more tragedies ahead. By now, we really care about them all and want to know what will happen. I couldn’t put this book down…and while there were definitely some leaps in the plot, I loved it. Recommended for all who revel in a good novel about family, about women’s issues, and about the cost of secrets. Five stars.

A JOURNEY THROUGH A TANGLED WEB OF DECEIT — A REVIEW

In an upscale suburb of Glasgow, a young woman named Sarah Erroll has returned from a trip. She is asleep when she hears a noise. And then two young men enter her room, and from that moment on, everything about her life spins out of control.

In another part of the city, a woman named Kay is admiring a lovely bowl and thinking of its history. She is a house cleaner, so the loveliness of it is not a regular part of her life. A single mother of four kids, she struggles to make ends meet.

Pregnant with twins, Detective Inspector Alex Morrow has just returned from a funeral. Her life is a tangle of connections that she would rather forget. But she is thrust into the midst of an investigation of the murder of Sarah Erroll.

And then, a few days later, a wealthy banker charged with the financial ruin of others has hung himself.

How do all of these lives entwine? What connections are there between them, and what will Alex unexpectedly learn about her own family as she begins to unravel the secrets, deceptions, and mysteries behind Sarah’s murder?

From the beginning, we know the identities of the two young men, but do not know who did what during the frantic moments on the stairs in Sarah’s house. How will the inspectors finally sort it all out, and who will finally point them in the right direction?

The End of the Wasp Season was a captivating story that had me riveted to the pages, with emotions aroused immediately for the various characters, from the flawed children of the dead financier, Lars Anderson, to the sad life of Sarah, as her mother’s dementia cost her a fortune. Then there is the narcissistic Lars Anderson himself and how his choices rippled outward to affect all who crossed his path. Even each detective left an indelible mark on the pages as they seemingly came to life. Especially those, like the power hungry DS Grant Bannerman, who evoked contempt from this reader. In my opinion, this book is Mina’s best so far. Five stars.

JOURNEY TO REDEMPTION: A REVIEW — NOV. 29

When three teenagers, high on life and some substances, drive into the wrong neighborhood one hot summer afternoon, their lives will be changed forever.

A racial epithet, then a mad scramble to drive away, only to be stymied by a “turnaround” in the street…and the episode ends in violence. One boy is dead, another two injured.

Thirty-five years later, we see the ramifications still unfolding in shattered lives; anger and hate rippling forward and outward; and in the midst of it all, there is also hope for redemption and reparation.

Set in Washington, D.C., beginning in the 1970s, The Turnaround explores themes of hatred, fear, ignorance, and dashed dreams. Of all the characters, Alex Pappas is the one who seems strongest, with his steadfast movement toward the goals his father established: maintaining the family diner, putting aside a “little something” for the future; and family loyalty.

Meanwhile, in counterpoint, are the Monroe brothers: James and Raymond. Their family values were also strong, but somehow, they each seemed to stray off track. But a strong sense of loyalty sustains them over the years, and gradually brings them back to a place of strength and purpose.

How do these three characters connect again after all these years? What is Raymond’s plan to heal the breach? And how will the wild card, Charles, violent and seemingly without any redeeming qualities, try to muck things up?

In the end, this story had a satisfying feeling, as we see how the physical “turnaround” that changed their lives can be a metaphorical one. Indeed, they can find a resolution to their damaged lives. Five stars.

UNDER THE GREAT OAK TREE — A JOURNEY TO THE PAST — A REVIEW

In a beautifully portrayed setting with colorful and intriguing characters, The Tree of Everlasting Knowledge swept me into the warmth of its family-oriented story. In this tale about the Fagans, a rich and powerful family with secrets and pain, a loss of one of their own comes to light in the first few pages.

Troy Fagan seems harsh and rigid as we first meet him, but gradually we see the pain hidden behind this facade. Ourania D’Andre bursts on the page, as she rushes to get to her job on time; she has been hired as the electrician on a new project for the Fagans: renovating the mansion for Dianne, the pregnant youngest Fagan.

Slowly we realize that the tension between Troy and Ourania springs from secrets of the past between the two of them.

And gently hovering over the landscape and enfolding the characters is the Great Oak tree that contains its own secrets. Is it a blessed tree, or do curses follow those who go near?

Amidst the maelstrom of the family secrets and past horrors that unfold on the pages, we meet Lianna, head of Job and Family Services, who is also Ourania’s mother and is about to ask something huge of her daughter. She has two challenging foster children to place, and hopes Ourania, who is certified as a foster parent, will take them on. The timing couldn’t be worse, in Ourania’s mind, and she resists. But she does agree, and it doesn’t take long, despite the difficulties the children bring, for her to bond with them. Especially with the boy, Walt, whom she is teaching to pitch a baseball. Emma is more difficult, but her resistance also comes from the horror that lives in her mind.

How are the two children connected to some of the other characters? What unexpected past events will reveal something more about the Fagans and the D’Andres?

The mix of secrets, family bonds, and a budding romance grabbed me right away and kept me reading. The characters felt real, and as a former social worker, I could relate to the issues that came to light for Ourania as she worked with the children. I was not surprised to find that some of the secrets connected the characters in unique ways, but I enjoyed watching it all come to light for the reader. Five stars.

LIVING IN A COCOON OF HORROR: A YOUNG GIRL’S INTERIOR JOURNEY

Sixteen-year-old Lucy lives two lives: the one at home, where she escapes to her room as a refuge from the rest of her house; and the one at school, with a best friend and possibly a boyfriend, neither of whom can ever come to her house, because Lucy’s mother Joanna is a hoarder. Not just someone who collects a lot of stuff, but someone who is gradually burying herself and her family in the cave of treasures she accumulates by ordering off the shopping network, going to every tag sale around, and bringing it all home with her.

The space is narrowing every day, with toppling stacks hovering in every available part of each room and blocking the hallways. The kitchen is filled with garbage and decaying food; the room reeks of putrefying things. In the living room, Joanna sits watching TV. She is angry, frustrated, and takes out her feelings on Lucy when she cannot find something. She, too, lives another life as an oncology nurse, kind and loving to her patients.

Is there any escape from the devastating mess and the terrifying isolation that locks these two individuals within a cocoon of horror?

Out of nowhere, seemingly, something does happen: a tragedy that fuels Lucy’s panic and propels her into a desperate sort of action. She sees that the only solution is to clean up the mess before she calls for help. Paced in increments of time marking the next 24 hours, we see Lucy’s futile attempt to make a dent in the morass of her life. And then…almost as if she is guided by some unseen force, she takes one final action to change her world forever.

Hauntingly emotional, pulling the reader right into the desperation that marks Lucy’s life, Dirty Little Secrets is a poignant reminder of the horrors of an existence that can claim the vulnerable and separate them from others.

The writer’s style and pace kept me turning those pages, but I would have enjoyed seeing more interaction between Lucy and Joanna before everything changed. Flashbacks give the reader a glimpse of what life might have looked like before the horror it became, and there were defining moments that apparently set the stage for what Joanna became, but the motivation seemed nebulous. Hoarding as a mental health disorder is definitely getting a lot of attention these days, and this rendition showed the teen point of view very well. Four stars.

A SURREAL JOURNEY — A REVIEW

Suki Piper has returned to London after a decade long escape to New Zealand. Specifically, she has come back to the old neighborhood in Notting Hill, where her family lived for the first eight years of her life. A place full of memories, some that feel like bits and pieces of surreal images, while others hint at mysterious goings-on that she has struggled for years to piece together and understand.

Soon Suki is once again enmeshed with members of the Wright family: Peggy, the matriarch; Pippa, the daughter who was once a teen babysitter for Suki; and Harold, the strange and sometimes condescending son. These former neighbors lived in an upstairs flat above the basement where the Pipers lived, and now Peggy lives there alone.

As Suki floats from place to place, sleeping on friends’ couches, she begins to reach out to Pippa, feeling totally disconnected from everyone else, and realizing that friendships she left behind are not so easily resumed. Her old friends seem distant and disinterested.

So when Pippa asks Suki to stay with Peggy, who is in failing health, while her family goes to Greece for vacation, Suki agrees. Where else will she go?

What follows are a series of flashbacks, taking the reader from the present to the past and back again. Suki’s first person narrative carries the reader into her early childhood memories, the time in New Zealand, and the strange memories that haunt her about a long-ago time before her father’s abandonment of the family.

How does an old air-raid shelter in the backyard figure into Suki’s half-formed and surreal memories? Who is “the girl below” and what is her significance in Suki’s life? What must Suki do to finally sort out the strange moments and what they mean to her life in the present, and how do they connect to questionable things in the past?

I found myself totally absorbed in Suki’s dilemmas, especially her feelings of isolation and disconnect from people and places. Her father’s abandonment, followed a few years later by her mother’s death, left her feeling unmoored. Rudderless, as if her life had no meaning and she had no significant connections to anyone. Her quest for a feeling of belonging through a series of love affairs and the endless pursuit of the euphoric high of drugs felt appropriate for someone who has not dealt with her issues of abandonment and loss. I was pleased at how Suki was eventually able to finally put the past into its place and form a starting point for a new future. The Girl Below: A Novel was a surreal journey into one somewhat narcissistic woman’s psyche, and at times, was a bit self-pitying. Four stars.

A CHAOTIC CAULDRON OF WARRING EMOTIONS — A REVIEW

When Andi met Ethan in her thirties, she knew he was just the man she’d been waiting for…and the fact that he had two daughters already felt like the icing on the cake. Andi had always wanted a family.

But family life did not unfold in the way that Andi had anticipated, and their “blended” family began to feel more like a chaotic cauldron of warring temperaments and unsolvable conflicts. At the heart of these conflicts was Ethan’s teenage daughter Emily, whose histrionic behavior and horrific tantrums began to define their daily lives. Sophia, on the other hand, despite being the youngest, presented as calm, mature, and easily loved.

Because Ethan had a neutral kind of personality, he found himself constantly mediating between Andi and Emily; and in trying to calm Emily down during her tantrums, he appeared to be taking her side.

Something happens during Emily’s seventeenth year that changes the dynamics and direction of this family. How will these unexpected events unfurl and cause them all to take another look at things? And what will be the ultimate outcome?

In the beginning, I could see much of the story through Andi’s eyes, and felt her frustration for Emily.

Toward the middle, the author brought Emily’s point of view into play through alternating chapters in first person narrative voice, so finally I could understand some of what she was feeling.

To say more would be bringing spoilers into the mix, so I will only add that I sometimes couldn’t breathe with the intensity of emotions churning up within Another Piece of My Heart. I could understand each of the characters, even as I felt frustrated with most of them at one point or another. In the end, I liked the way things came together, and while I hoped–and even expected–they would play out this way, the ending gave me a very good feeling.

Five stars!

WAITING ON WEDNESDAY: KEEPSAKE — APRIL 18

Welcome to another special Waiting on Wednesday event, hosted by Jill, at Breaking the Spine.  Every Wednesday, we enjoy sharing our enthusiasm for upcoming book releases.

My feature today is a novel that I’m very excited about.  Keepsake, by Kristina Riggle, is a timely and provocative novel that asks:  What happens when the things we own become more important than the people we love?

To be released June 26, 2012

Amazon blurb: 

Trish isn’t perfect. She’s divorced and raising two kids—so of course her house isn’t pristine. But she’s got all the important things right and she’s convinced herself that she has it all under control. That is, until the day her youngest son gets hurt and Child Protective Services comes calling. It’s at that moment when Trish is forced to consider the one thing she’s always hoped wasn’t true: that she’s living out her mother’s life as a compulsive hoarder.

The last person Trish ever wanted to turn to for help is her sister, Mary—meticulous, perfect Mary, whose house is always spotless . . . and who moved away from their mother to live somewhere else, just like Trish’s oldest child has. But now, working together to get Trish’s disaster of a home into livable shape, two very different sisters are about to uncover more than just piles of junk, as years of secrets, resentments, obsessions, and pain are finally brought into the light.

***

I can’t wait to read this story!  The issues speak to that part of us that clings to sentimental objects.  It also addresses an unmet need seemingly satisfied by the treasures we keep.

What are you waiting for?  I hope you’ll stop by and share….

A CHILD’S TORTURED JOURNEY — A REVIEW

On June 3, 2005, in Corvallis, Oregon, three-year-old Karly Sheehan died after being abused and tortured.

In A Silence of Mockingbirds: The Memoir of a Murder, the author, an investigative journalist, details the events leading up to this death, including the numerous failures of the system along the way.

Karly’s parents, David and Sarah Sheehan, were divorced, and although David, an Irish immigrant, was the primary caretaker, the two alternated care. Sarah’s relationship with Shawn Wesley Field was the turning point in Karly’s life, but the ability of Sarah to deflect, to charm her way out of uncomfortable situations, and her apparent narcissism, were factors that did not end up in criminal charges against her in the end. Shawn Field was held on numerous counts and found guilty. He is serving a lengthy sentence.

Because the author had known and even cared for Sarah for a period of time during her teens, she felt a vested interest in the events and spent a great deal of time compiling facts of the case when writing this memoir.

Because of her relationship with Sarah, she knew the young woman’s flaws and did not buy into the “victim” stance afforded Sarah during the trial.

It was only after the trial that the author even learned of Karly’s death, as she had not been living in Corvallis at the time. The fact that Sarah did not reach out to her, or the very strange manner in which she reported the death to the author when she happened to run into her one day, set off red flags. Why had Sarah not protected her daughter? How did she so readily turn a blind eye to what was happening to her daughter?

Other questions certainly arose during her investigation and had arisen during the trial: why had the system failed to take certain steps to ensure the child’s safety? And how had Karly’s case fallen through the cracks?

April is Child Abuse Protection month, and it behooves us all to be more aware of the most vulnerable members of society.

In this quote, the author provides some statistics:

“Every five hours, a child in the U. S. dies from abuse or neglect, according to a 2011 investigation by the BBC journalist Natalia Antelava. The U.S. has the highest child abuse record in the industrialized world. America’s child abuse death rate is triple Canada’s and eleven times that of Italy…”

As a retired social worker and child protective services professional, I have encountered many alarming cases over the years. One would think I might become desensitized to the abuse, but, in fact, the opposite is true. Throughout Zacharias’s story, I found myself tearing up over and over at the alarming facts of the case. In telling Karly’s story, the author flashed between the past and present to weave in details of David’s story, as well as Sarah’s, showing the reader the very real characters and how their lives and choices impacted the victimized child. I found the reference to the protectiveness of mockingbirds an example of how far we, as humans, have yet to go to reach that level of safekeeping. Five stars.

***

I was provided a review copy by the publisher, which, in no way, has impacted my review of this book.