Harris's penchant for lassoing the casual reader with a far- fetched yarn—even one with vacant characters and cuckoo coincidences—has boosted the popularity of her period Eden series and the chill-factor of ghost/terror items like The Diviner (1982) or Night Games (1987). This is a sunnier item, with a runaway plot, about a two-decade search for a child lost on a westbound train from Depression-era Tulsa. In 1930, the 18-year-old Martha, who's run away from a mean dad in Texas, pleads with the harassed head of a Tulsa Salvation Army shelter, where she slaves, to allow her to keep the newborn she names Belle (for the baby's bell-shaped birthmark) as well as R.C., the waif she's found tied to a lamppost. Then one day when Belle is but a tot, R.C., thinking he'll save them from an orphanage, puts Belle on a train but misses it himself. In grief and fear, Martha and R.C. begin the search. Switch then to Belle and her fortunes—and families both cold and marvelous. Belle finds her ``real'' family with a Japanese couple, from whom she's later forced to part when they are interned during the war. At the same time, Martha and R.C. are having rocky times, but eventually Martha will have a home and a houseful of rescued waifs—as well as a husband—in Texas. It's while R.C. is teaching at UCLA that the impossible dream comes true. Meanwhile, Belle, now a widow and a student of economics and finance ready to take over her late husband's celluloid empire, and involved in civil-rights work, is ripe for discovery. Your basic seek, find, and sunburst resolution tale with an eerie period ambiance and Hallmark characters.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-517-58333-X
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1991
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
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
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