A well-told story of one woman’s life, with appealing supernatural undercurrents.
Lee, in her debut novel, fictionalizes the story of her English grandmother’s life.
In the early 20th century in Church Stretton, Shropshire, England, Mary Eileen, nicknamed Mollie, lives with her brothers, Les and Fred, and their loving parents. Although generally content, she wishes her legs weren’t quite so short; as she and her peers mature, her girlfriends find boyfriends, but Mollie remains unattached. During World War II, she takes on the local milk route, earning the nickname of “Mollie the Milk” and enduring good-natured teasing about finding her “cream.” She spies young soldier Jack Meredith home on leave, and, one day, he invites her for a drink. They soon marry, but after Jack leaves, he does not return from the battlefield. She meets another suitor, mechanic Bill Cooke, and is initially hesitant, but she heeds the advice from her mum, who asks her, “[H]ow many nice, down-to-earth and unmarried Shropshire lads do you expect to meet?” After marrying again, Mollie begins to raise a family, encountering joy and heartbreak. As her life goes on, she finds simple pleasures in her collectibles, her grandchildren, and her seemingly supernatural connection to nature and spirits—including communion with fairies. This first-person tale is a loving and heartfelt tribute to Lee’s grandmother, drawing upon Mollie’s history and bringing her thoughts to life in an upbeat, chatty manner. Despite occasional unclear phrasing, the story flows well. Mollie is a spunky character, given to flights of fancy, while those in her orbit seem more like framed photos on a mantelpiece. The book’s final third, however, focuses primarily on Mollie’s physical and mental decline; the theme of cancer figures predominantly in this section, and it’s given voice in an inspiring manner.
A well-told story of one woman’s life, with appealing supernatural undercurrents.Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2013
ISBN: 978-3952420508
Page Count: 292
Publisher: Katherine Anne Lee
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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