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KATY'S GHOST

Name: KATY'S GHOST
Author: Trish Evans
ISBN: 978-1-73323-490-0

by Trish Evans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 22, 2019

A moving, if occasionally flawed, exploration of one woman’s attempt to conquer lifelong anxieties.

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In Evans’ debut novel, a former teacher, haunted by a phantom, learns to move beyond fear and toward acceptance.

Katy Welborn McAndrews is a breast cancer survivor, but despite being cancer-free for three years, her doctor advises her against getting pregnant, as it could raise the risk that the cancer will return. Then Katy receives a visit from the spirit of her beloved grandmother, who died 11 years ago. Despite her death, it appears that Gram hasn’t lost the usual spring in her step. During her frequent visitations and reminiscences, she and Katy pore through their pasts, uncovering old hurts and fears along the way. Despite the somewhat familiar nature of the narrative, Evans throws in a few twists and turns; for example, an early plot thread about Katy’s uncle Rollie and younger sister Wendy appears to be heading toward predictable territory, but takes an unexpected, sharp turn to become an exploration of heredity, and how a child’s perceptions shape the adult they later become. Although the fearful nature of Evans’ protagonist can be occasionally wearying, Katy still comes across as a realistic portrayal of a trauma survivor, and her steps toward freedom as she escapes the shackles of her past feel earned. The ghostly Gram is also a fully realized character, offering verve, timidity, and regret in varying measures as Katy’s understanding of her deepens. That said, other secondary players feel flat and underdeveloped, and the chronology of the narrative feels unclear. Overall, though, Katy and Gram’s story has moments of wit and sublime epiphany.

A moving, if occasionally flawed, exploration of one woman’s attempt to conquer lifelong anxieties.

Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-73323-490-0

Page Count: 356

Publisher: StoneArch Bridge Books

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2019

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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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.