THE SEARCH FOR MAGGIE WARD

by Andrew M. Greeley ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 1990

Greeley's 11th romantic potboiler--the tale of a battle-weary WW II pilot whose affair with a sexy female ""ghost"" returns him to the land of the living. It is the summer after the Big War, and while most American veterans are racing back to the States to set up housekeeping and purchase as many of the newly available consumer goods as possible, Jerry Keenan finds himself unattached, unable to settle down, and doomed to wander the Southwest in search of further adventure. Still riding the rush of his career as a fighter pilot (and suffering nightmares featuring those whose violent deaths he witnessed and/or inadvertently mused), the handsome renegade from a prominent Chicago family not only dreads returning to his predictable country-club future, but he's also suffering a crisis of (Catholic) faith. Enter Andrea King, a wraithlike 18-year-old widow whose grief over the deaths of her husband and infant daughter has developed into full-blown despair. Finding her irresistible--despite her self-loathing and mysterious feelings of guilt--Keenan embarks on a love affair so passionate that it reawakens his belief in God. Then, just when life looks rosiest, Andrea disappears. In searching for her, Keenan tracks down her miserable past (and her original name of Maggie Ward) as the abused, abandoned daughter of a pair of Philadelphia ne'er-do-wells; as the teen-aged wife of a sailor who died mysteriously; and as the mother of a child who, some say, was murdered. Did Maggie Ward really exist, agonizes Keenan, or was she sent from Heaven to bring him back to God? A reunion in Chicago confirms his faith, and the earnest ex-fighter pilot devotes himself to winning the all-too-human Maggie as his wife. A classic love story--clumsy here, overblown there, but highly entertaining and likable nonetheless. Greeley strikes again.

Pub Date: Jan. 2, 1990

ISBN: 1423354311

Page Count: -

Publisher: Warner

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1990

Categories: FICTION