An elaborate story of love, loss and the psychic toll of progress.
A serpentine series of relationships draws four families together as they struggle with the American dream.
Tinged with comedy, tragedy and trials both plausible and not, the story chronicles the disparate lives and fortuitous intermingling of four households representing a wide cross section of the social and economic landscape of 1950s America. Sarah Robbins, a nightclub singer from Ohio, is the most bruised and compelling character. First taken in as a teenaged orphan by the married Judge Kinslow, the old man soon swindles her out of her inheritance and seduces her into a sexual relationship. Left alone and penniless with Kinslow’s son to support, she struggles to rise above her unfortunate circumstances and a powerful addiction to alcohol to raise the boy right. Neil Dvorak, a mournful cabinetmaker, tries to make the best of not one, but two, broken marriages while trying to protect his daughter from the world’s perils. Dolores Drake plans her escape from both Alabama and her husband, a vicious drunk and diehard bigot, and finds her salvation in a black woman named Ruthie Jackson. In California, David and Karen Stratton are the picture-perfect family on the outside, living a life the other characters only see on sitcoms flickering on their black-and-white televisions. But their suburban life has a looming darkness that threatens to come crashing in. Add in all the children, lovers, friends and neighbors and it’s a sea of characters to account for, but Valentine effectively tracks each of them and merges their storylines together. While many of the plotlines veer toward soap opera–and certainly, daytime drama fans will eat this up–the author’s portrayal of both the post-war triumphs and the dismal social failures of an evolving nation make Better Days Ahead a worthy beginning for a promised trilogy.
An elaborate story of love, loss and the psychic toll of progress.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 1936
ISBN: 0-9772187-0-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.
Eleven years ago, he broke her heart. But he doesn’t know why she never forgave him.
Toggling between past and present, two love stories unfold simultaneously. In the first, Macy Sorensen meets and falls in love with the boy next door, Elliot Petropoulos, in the closet of her dad’s vacation home, where they hide out to discuss their favorite books. In the second, Macy is working as a doctor and engaged to a single father, and she hasn’t spoken to Elliot since their breakup. But a chance encounter forces her to confront the truth: what happened to make Macy stop speaking to Elliot? Ultimately, they’re separated not by time or physical remoteness but by emotional distance—Elliot and Macy always kept their relationship casual because they went to different schools. And as a teen, Macy has more to worry about than which girl Elliot is taking to the prom. After losing her mother at a young age, Macy is navigating her teenage years without a female role model, relying on the time-stamped notes her mother left in her father’s care for guidance. In the present day, Macy’s father is dead as well. She throws herself into her work and rarely comes up for air, not even to plan her upcoming wedding. Since Macy is still living with her fiance while grappling with her feelings for Elliot, the flashbacks offer steamy moments, tender revelations, and sweetly awkward confessions while Macy makes peace with her past and decides her future.
With frank language and patient plotting, this gangly teen crush grows into a confident adult love affair.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-2801-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2018
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