by Patsy Evans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 14, 2018
A moving story of a mother’s devotion to her mentally impaired child, inspired by her faith in God.
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A young woman with theatrical dreams heads to New York City in the 1950s in this debut Christian novel.
Ann Marie Jernigan grew up in Bonner Valley, Texas. After her graduation from the University of Texas in 1955, she moves to New York to pursue a stage career. She secures a part-time job caring for Sarah Buffington, an elderly woman, in her home. Sarah’s son, Nelson, who employed Ann, is an unlikable man. But Sarah is quite loving toward the caregiver. Through this position, Ann meets Sarah’s grandson Richard and they begin dating, continuing the relationship even when she quits the job to work regularly onstage. After they wed, Sarah cautions Ann that she fears Richard has inherited his father’s worst trait, which she dubs the Buffington Syndrome: “They feel it necessary to control everything and everyone around them, especially their wives and children.” Ann becomes pregnant in 1959 but finds out the child will be born severely neurologically impaired. Richard, never keen on kids, immediately seeks to institutionalize the child rather than have their comfortable life upended, hitting Ann when she pushes to care for the baby. She leaves Richard and eventually moves back to Bonner Valley with her child, Joy. Ann believes Joy is “destined to impact many lives in a way known only by God.” Ann starts over and opens a voice, dance, and theater school, where Joy sits in on classes for the auditory stimulation. Evans acknowledges that Joy’s poignant story was inspired by two family members’ experiences caring for their own impaired children, and the tale skillfully reflects that personal insight into a challenging life. The author’s background as an English teacher also shows in the touching book’s overall quality. Natural dialogue and a fully developed plot arc are deftly executed. The undercurrent of faith that keeps Ann going through a difficult journey will appeal to fans of Christian fiction but is not so strong to dissuade readers with other beliefs.
A moving story of a mother’s devotion to her mentally impaired child, inspired by her faith in God.Pub Date: Nov. 14, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-973637-84-4
Page Count: 322
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: May 2, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Nora Roberts ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 13, 1995
Thoroughbreds and Virginia blue-bloods cavort, commit murder, and fall in love in Roberts's (Hidden Riches, 1994, etc.) latest romantic thriller — this one set in the world of championship horse racing. Rich, sheltered Kelsey Byden is recovering from a recent divorce when she receives a letter from her mother, Naomi, a woman she has believed dead for over 20 years. When Kelsey confronts her genteel English professor father, though, he sheepishly confesses that, no, her mother isn't dead; throughout Kelsey's childhood, she was doing time for the murder of her lover. Kelsey meets with Naomi and not only finds her quite charming, but the owner of Three Willows, one of the most splendid horse farms in Virginia. Kelsey is further intrigued when she meets Gabe Slater, a blue-eyed gambling man who owns a neighboring horse farm; when one of Gabe's horses is mated with Naomi's, nostrils flare, flanks quiver, and the romance is on. Since both Naomi and Gabe have horses entered in the Kentucky Derby, Kelsey is soon swept into the whirlwind of the Triple Crown, in spite of her family's objections to her reconciliation with the notorious Naomi. The rivalry between the two horse farms remains friendly, but other competitors — one of them is Gabe's father, a vicious alcoholic who resents his son's success — prove less scrupulous. Bodies, horse and human, start piling up, just as Kelsey decides to investigate the murky details of her mother's crime. Is it possible she was framed? The ground is thick with no-goods, including haughty patricians, disgruntled grooms, and jockeys with tragic pasts, but despite all the distractions, the identity of the true culprit behind the mayhem — past and present — remains fairly obvious. The plot lopes rather than races to the finish. Gambling metaphors abound, and sexual doings have a distinctly equine tone. But Roberts's style has a fresh, contemporary snap that gets the story past its own worst excesses.
Pub Date: June 13, 1995
ISBN: 0-399-14059-X
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2008
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
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