Fans of quiet memoir and romance may appreciate this woman’s benign, unhurried passage through life.
A view of snow falling across distant mountains and valleys frames this somewhat distant, fictional memoir of an elderly woman’s ordinary life.
Author Klass’ debut novel zooms in on a mountain cabin and its unremarkable furnishings, eventually revealing the main character—we never learn her name—who ends each chapter by watching the snow fall outside her window. This conceit will resound by the story’s end, but it occasionally grows a little tiresome along the way. The close focus of the opening chapter continues as the woman’s earliest impressions from infancy are revealed, but these details soon stall an already slow-paced storyline. Since the protagonist’s life is told with little action or dialogue, it’s difficult to become emotionally invested. The unnamed character moves through an uneventful childhood and early adulthood. She wanders the country, and a brief travelogue ensues, but it reveals little other than her unabated ennui. The protagonist then reunites with her first love. Marriage, children and the universal events of aging fill the pages, and a theme of family connections gradually develops. Despite her happy marriage, another past lover haunts her. On hearing about his death, she realizes that his love had influenced her decisions “beyond his grave”—an insightful commentary on the nature of lost love. Both a hurricane and an earthquake affect the woman’s life, but readers don’t experience either event; they’re simply told about them. Certain snatches of description stand out: “Her eyes were the color of steel wool and just as coarse; they could scratch and scar the soul of anybody.” In the final third of the book, when she discovers an unopened package that sparks her curiosity, this character’s flat arc begins to bend, and the package’s revelation works to create a poignant climax to her life story.
Fans of quiet memoir and romance may appreciate this woman’s benign, unhurried passage through life.Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2013
ISBN: 978-1482779707
Page Count: 288
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A little slower-paced than the typical Roberts romantic mystery (Black Hills, 2009, etc.) but every bit as steamy. It may...
A dog trainer and a wood craftsman dance around love and danger in the Pacific Northwest.
Fiona Bristow is the only victim who got away from serial killer George Perry. Now a copycat, inspired and perhaps guided by the jailed Perry, is on her trail. After Perry murdered her fiancé, Fiona rebuilt her life as a dog trainer and search-and-rescue expert on lovely Orcas Island. She’s recently met talented woodworker Simon Doyle and his misbehaving puppy Jaws, and her dormant love life is about to revive as she and the reluctant Simon slowly build a complicated relationship. Though she’s done her best to overcome her fears and make herself whole again, this new series of killings, with herself as the ultimate target, can’t help but strain her nerves. As the police and FBI track the killer, a persistent reporter makes Fiona’s life more difficult by printing information about her life and location. Through it all, Fiona keeps working. As she continues to go on rescue missions with a team that may soon include Simon and Jaws, her friends help to keep her balanced. But ultimately it will be the trust she has built up with Simon and the talents of her dogs that will change her life forever.
A little slower-paced than the typical Roberts romantic mystery (Black Hills, 2009, etc.) but every bit as steamy. It may well add dog lovers to her legion of fans.Pub Date: July 7, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-399-15657-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2010
A smooth blend of suspense and romance. As ever, the author's trademark effortless style keeps a complex plot moving without...
Megaselling Roberts (River's End, 1999, etc.) goes to Napa Valley for the tale of an Italian-American family wine producers rocked by scandal and a series of murders.
Dynasty head Tereza Giambelli knows that her granddaughter Sophia is the only family member capable of running a multimillion-dollar wine business—and no one contradicts La Signora. It's just as well the lovely young woman is still single: Tereza has plans for her. The matriarch has recently married Eli MacMillan, the American founder of another famous wine company. Eli's grandson Tyler knows everything there is to know about producing wine, from the vineyard to the vat. Ruggedly handsome, intelligent and earthy, he's a perfect match for public-relations whiz Sophia—or so thinks Tereza. The two young people begin to work together; Tyler teaches Sophia the fine art of making wine and making love. But other family members hope to claim their share of the Giambelli fortune, and people start dying mysteriously, including Sophia's good-for-nothing father, Tony Avano. Long divorced from long-suffering Pilar Giambelli, Tony led an opulent, self-indulgent life that provides plenty of murder suspects. He might have been killed by the mob, or a jealous mistress, or his spoiled brother-in-law, Tereza's lazy son, who's produced a passel of brats with his foolish Italian wife in the hopes of making Tereza happy. Everyone has a motive, and nothing is what it seems, Sophia discovers, but Tyler stands by her. Then a bottle of tainted merlot kills a company exec. A tragic mishap caused by poisonous plants growing near the vines? Or deliberate product tampering intended to destroy the company? Sophia and Tyler will need to delve even deeper into the convoluted and sometimes unsavory history of the family and its three-generation business.
A smooth blend of suspense and romance. As ever, the author's trademark effortless style keeps a complex plot moving without a hitch.Pub Date: March 19, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-14712-8
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2001
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