A sweet story of strength and second chances.
A woman seeks to put her troubled childhood behind her in Barrett’s debut novel.
Elizabeth Parker Morgan is born into a family of great privilege and great sorrow. Her mother, unable to overcome her own childhood traumas, has become an ill, unstable recluse; her father is an often absent, cruel man who inherits the unwanted burden of a successful family business. Elizabeth escapes to boarding school, college, and, ultimately, a life abroad in France. In the beauty and light of Lyon, she lives out her own fairy tale. Her job is challenging but fulfilling, and she soon becomes indispensable to her company. Thanks to her employer and benefactor, she settles into a beautiful, furnished apartment of her own. As is the case in all fairy tales, Elizabeth falls head over heels for a handsome man, yet she also discovers that the path of true love isn’t easy. Antonio Ponti has a dark past, and his old ties to gamblers haunt his personal and professional lives. The lovers are torn apart by a threat of violence, and Elizabeth flees back to the United States, brokenhearted and pregnant. However, she’s buoyed by the love of her friends and her brother and determined to make a good life for her child. Despite the shadows that surround her, Elizabeth learns the value of unconditional love and finds herself questioning whether a future with Antonio is still possible. Barrett’s novel is a light but worthwhile read. She’s a highly descriptive writer who paints lovely pictures of cobblestone streets, sun-dazzled plazas, and intimate cafes. Although her narrative of star-crossed lovers isn’t unique, it does have an unusual twist: in a pleasant departure from the traditional fairy-tale trajectory, Barrett’s heroine relies on her own determination and creates her own successes rather than waiting to be rescued by a man. It’s a welcome contrast to the sexist, demeaning attitudes that defined Elizabeth’s childhood and a satisfying victory for a protagonist who broke a cycle of abuse and unhappiness.
A sweet story of strength and second chances.Pub Date: July 9, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4636-0461-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
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
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