The unabashedly romantic Lipman (The Way Men Act, 1991, etc.) has a talent for turning talk-show fare and tabloid headlines into light yet meaningful fiction. When 41-year-old Harriet's longtime boyfriend falls in love with and quickly marries someone else (``There went twelve years: my youth''), the legal secretary and aspiring writer responds, on a whim, to an ad for a live-in ghostwriter. She soon finds herself on Cape Cod, sharing swank quarters there with Isabel. Isabel's autobiography is of interest because her married lover was shot by his wife when they were caught in flagrante delicto, and she is as glamorous and devil-may-care as Harriet is humdrum and quiet. It is inevitable, in a book with two opposites, that they will learn things from each other, but what they do learn turns out to be quite surprising. Also on the premises are Isabel's sometimes estranged husband, Costas, a former big name in the art world who fell into disgrace, and Pete, a down-to-earth former fisherman who now acts as Isabel's general handyman. The two women are particularly clear and well balanced. Isabel is a likable sort, who gives of herself freely. One of Lipman's great strengths has always been her ability to draw wholly sympathetic, completely unglamorous characters, and Harriet is no exception. Initially, she finds herself so caught up in Isabel's story, indeed in Isabel's daily life, that her own work (on a novel based on her parents' two marriages to each other) is slipping away. Slowly she evolves, however, learning to push for what she wants. Lipman's details are subtle and telling, adding texture to a novel that might have gone over the edge with Isabel's often outrageous behavior. There are a few gaps in the story—Costas's part is a little vague, for instance—but the prose is so natural that only in retrospect will readers notice them. So well paced that you could devour it in one sitting, but so much fun that you'll regret finishing so quickly if you do. (Author tour)
Pub Date: March 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-671-88160-4
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Pocket
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1994
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
To her usual mix of love, mystery, and passion, Roberts (Sanctuary, 1997, etc.)—author of 115 romancers in some 17 years—adds Renaissance art and a decidedly Medici-like family: the Joneses of Maine. Dr. Miranda Jones, nearly six feet with flaming red hair and a glacial reserve, is an archeometrist who specializes in the analyzing and dating of Renaissance bronze sculpture. Miranda hopes to secure a world-class reputation for herself by authenticating a 15th-century statue of the Dark Lady, one of the mistresses of Lorenzo the Magnificent, as the undiscovered work of a young Michelangelo. Miranda's mother, Dr. Elizabeth Standford-Jones, the emotionally remote director of the Standjo art lab in Florence, has summoned her daughter from the family's Victorian cliffside home in Jones Point, Maine, to test the statue. Meanwhile, Miranda's father, equally remote, is an archaeologist who spends more time at his digs than at home. In fact, no one in the Jones family has made a successful run at marriage, a failure that Miranda and her alcoholic brother Andrew call the Jones curse. As for the statue, when it's discovered to be a fake, Miranda sets out to prove that someone stole the original. In this she's helped by gorgeous art thief Ryan Boldari (half-Italian, half-Irish), who's come to Jones Point to steal yet another bronze, which also turns out to be a forgery. Ryan's plan had been to use Miranda as a pawn, but now, naturally, he finds himself falling hard for her. While the two search for bronzes, a standard-issue romance-novel psychotic is stalking them. Most readers will twig to the killer's identity: Here, as always, Roberts's sexual tension is more compelling than her suspense. Perhaps it's time to take a sabbatical from the pink sweatshop and turn her considerable wit and narrative skills to a more original piece of work.
Pub Date: March 23, 1998
ISBN: 0-399-14387-4
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1998
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