Meredith’s coming-of-age novel tells the story of a young woman who, in the wake of her mother’s death, befriends a couple of small town outsiders with whom she forms an important bond.
Taking place primarily in 1968 Mississippi, the book starts and finishes 40 years later with a reunion of friends. After their mother’s death from cancer, 15-year-old Kate and her younger sister, Martha, are left by their father to live with their grandparents in a trailer park in Pascagoula, Miss. After years of nursing her mother and taking care of her emotionally fragile sister, Kate has a pessimistic, world-weary outlook on life. Debut novelist Meredith sensitively, but unflinchingly, portrays the horror that might impact a young girl as she watches her mother die. Kate meets another injured soul in Tom Carmody, whose brother has returned from Vietnam a paraplegic. Tom also carries the secret of his homosexuality. Kate and Tom forge a deep friendship and are joined by Claire, the daughter of the town’s resident communist. Meredith deftly maneuvers between the growing friendships and the turmoil and violence of 1968 America. Tom, Claire and Kate’s adventures to New Orleans and a rinky-dink circus on the outskirts of town expose Kate to the wonders and excitement of life. But Kate’s awakening is squashed by an accident that damages Martha in such a way that the sisters’ lives are never the same. Soon after the accident, Kate and Martha’s father returns to take them away from Pasacagoula and the family of friends that Kate has formed. After 40 years, Kate still takes care of Martha, who, despite being unable to live on her own, has become a successful artist. Kate receives a desperate message from Tom, whom she hasn’t heard from for decades, pleading with her to visit. In the days proceeding Hurricane Katrina, the sisters set off on an adventure, returning to Tom and Claire and setting in motion the resolution and change that Kate has needed to finally get on with her life. A compelling, beautifully written novel that is an intimate portrayal of friendship and redemption.
Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2011
ISBN: 978-0615506371
Page Count: 332
Publisher: La Sirene
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
