2 SPRUCE LANE

by Gretchen Travis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 11, 1975

Suburban houses with Burnt Offerings and Crawlspaces and diseased family trees have become popular places in fiction where Avon and other ladies ring the bell. This is not as original a story as Travis' first, The Cottage; you can't quite remember if you've been there before. But when Cy and Janet Evans (pregnant at long last; they have an adopted Puerto Rican child, Peter) rent a charming Victorian small house, they have no idea of the ""blood rent"" it will exact. At first it merely seems impossible to heat; eventually they learn that its previous owners have met with endless suicides-accidents-fatalities. Their own Peter strangles a dog, later drowns. That's not enough: Janet's baby is born--but what is it? an it?--which dies, and there's a fire, and Janet understandably disintegrates. . . . This is tenanted with many so many disasters, but the domestic detail could keep it too close for comfort if you're susceptible.

Pub Date: Sept. 11, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1975

Categories: FICTION