In My Mailbox: Week of June 20, 2010
Title: Fly Away Home
Author: Jennifer Weiner
Received: From Artemis Azima- Engelman & co.
Synopsis: Sometimes all you can do is fly away home . . .When Sylvie Serfer met Richard Woodruff in law school, she had wild curls, wide hips, and lots of opinions. Decades later, Sylvie has remade herself as the ideal politician’s wifeher hair dyed and straightened, her hippie-chick wardrobe replaced by tailored knit suits. At fifty-seven, she ruefully acknowledges that her job is staying twenty pounds thinner than she was in her twenties and tending to her husband, the senator.Lizzie, the Woodruffs’ younger daughter, is at twenty-four a recovering addict, whose mantra HALT (Hungry? Angry? Lonely? Tired?) helps her keep her life under control. Still, trouble always seems to find her. Her older sister, Diana, an emergency room physician, has everything Lizzie failed to achievea husband, a young son, the perfect homeand yet she’s trapped in a loveless marriage. With temptation waiting in one of the ER’s exam rooms, she finds herself craving more.After Richard’s extramarital affair makes headlines, the three women are drawn into the painful glare of the national spotlight. Once the press conference is over, each is forced to reconsider her life, who she is and who she is meant to be.Written with an irresistible blend of heartbreak and hilarity,Fly Away Homeis an unforgettable story of a mother and two daughters who after a lifetime of distance finally learn to find refuge in one another.
Title: Anyone for Seconds?
Author: Fiona Cassidy
Received: From Fiona Cassidy
Synopsis: Frankie has recently met the man of her dreams, Owen, at the college where she is temping as a public relations officer. The lecturer was abandoned by his wife Jane when their daughter Angelica was only seven. Frankie has a lot in common with her new boyfriend as her husband Tony also dumped her and then headed off to the US with his stick-insect lover. He hasn’t seen his kids Ben and Carly since. But if the path of true love never runs smooth, then the road to Frankie’s second chance at love and a united family is definitely littered with potholes. Not only does she have to deal with one very moody and insolent teenager who isn’t keen on another woman entering her dad’s life, she also has to face off against two spiteful in-laws in the form of her ex’s grandmother “Nebby Peg” and Owen’s sister-in-law Brenda. But on her side she has her sister Ella, back from Scotland for a visit with an upsetting secret, and her wild-haired friend Ruby. Frankie is a feisty character who will resonate with those who have walked in her shoes. A promising debut – I’ll be back for seconds.
Title: Swallow
Author: Tonya Plank
Received: From Tonya Plank
Synopsis: Sophie Hegel is a shy New York lawyer from small-town Florence Arizona, known not for the Renaissance but for housing a large prison. She’s just graduated from Yale Law School and landed her first job when, one evening she feels a fist-like ball form at the base of her throat. Diagnosed with the psychological condition Globus Sensate, this “fist-ball” wreaks havoc on her life, causing difficulty eating, speaking, and eventually breathing. With a cast of characters that includes a pornographer father, a sister with a knack for getting knocked up by denizens of the town pen, a tough-talking fashion maven, a painter of male nudes, an eccentric Sing Sing-residing client and a bevy of privileged Manhattan attorneys and judges, Swallow is a dark comedy about the distance that can separate fathers and daughters, and about a young woman’s struggle to survive in a world of pedigreed professionals for which she has no preparation.
