The immensely prolific Fr. Greeley brings back the crazy O’Malley family (A Midwinter’s Tale, 1998) for a post-WW II romance about the perils of coming of age. Chucky O’Malley, who joined the army in 1946 for the GI Bill’s college benefits and became a sergeant in Germany, returns to Chicago in 1948 as a decorated veteran and enrolls at Notre Dame. Despite overseas encounters with beautiful FrÑuleins, he still has fond feelings for his childhood girlfriend, Rosemarie Clancy. She’s a kind of foster sister, though the recent photo he took of her in a two-piece bathing suit gets him in trouble at Notre Dame, as does reading Joyce’s Ulysses, which is on the Index. Will Chucky become a photographer? Father Raven has asked him to save Rosemarie. Her father is a mountainous, diabolical psychopath, a gambler and investor, a member of The Outfit; her mother’s a drunk, and Rosemarie, three years younger than Chucky, denies her own drinking problem. When a dozen bottles of beer are found under his bed at Notre Dame, Chucky is expelled and falls into steep hatred for the university and especially for his nemesis there, the intolerably intolerant Father Pius (“ ‘The university will be free from your evil soul!” Father Pius exulted”). Chucky goes on to get a job as an accountant and becomes deeply involved with the beautiful Cordelia, who eventually dumps him. Then, in Rome, he has some steamy affairs before returning home and enrolling alongside Rosemarie at the University of Chicago. Will he, can he, save her? It’s a question the author has the good sense not to answer. Greeley clearly likes to jump into a plot and row steadily, just to see what’s up for a whole batch of characters who will, of course, at last find themselves aswim in family warmth and Christmas carols, unwrapping middlebrow presents like Younger Than Springtime.
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1999
ISBN: 0-312-86572-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Forge
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
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
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
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