This novel is about families, but the pivotal point of it is the clash between mother and daughter and couples and their children.

Iris and Theo Stern are the older American couple who think their lives have been successful, and for that reason their children should follow in their footsteps. Although they are not overly pushy and they are supportive and enjoy their children and grandchildren, their devoted marriage and their values have been so instilled in the next generation that the members of that generation do not feel free to use their own freewill to live the life they want.

One of their children Laura in her thirties has doubts about her marriage and her husband's capability to support their children and their life together, and she starts on a journey of her own, doing what she likes to do, only to raise eyebrows from those around her. She wants to leave her husband, but her mother's dogma is too much inside her. Will she be able to free herself from Iris's way of thinking is for the reader to find out.

The relationships, the feeling of family and its hidden truths.

that some characters felt like stick people.

sad because it is this writer's last one, as she passed away last year.

Belva Plain (1915-2010) was Jewish American writer of mainstream fiction.
Her other books are:
Evergreen (1978)
Golden Cup (1986)
Tapestry (1988)
Harvest (1990)
Heartwood (2011)

Random Winds (1980)
Eden Burning (1982)
Crescent City (1984)
Blessings (1989)
Treasures (1992)
Whispers (1993)
Daybreak (1994)
The Carousel (1995)
Promises (1996)
Secrecy (1997)
Homecoming (1997)
Legacy of Silence (1998)
Fortune's Hand (1999)
After the Fire (2000)
Looking Back (2001)
Her Father's House (2002)
The Sight of the Stars (2003)
Crossroads (2004)

It is the writer's last one and it has some insight into human behavior, although I didn't enjoy it as much as I had enjoyed her earlier work, especially Evergreen, that I came to know during the seventies.

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Created Aug 10, 2011 at 2:23pm • Submit your own review...