From Publishers Weekly: An after-school stroll leads to a life-altering event for widower Robert Dillon and his 12-year-old daughter, Nicky, in this delicate new novel by acclaimed author Shreve (All He Ever Wanted,etc.). In the woods surrounding their secluded home in Shepherd, N.H., Robert and Nicky make a startling discovery-a baby abandoned and left to die in the snow. The infant survives, but the incident leaves its mark. Still recovering from the painful loss of her mother and infant sister two years earlier, and readjusting to the shock of a sudden move from suburban Westchester to rural Shepherd, Nicky struggles to reconcile her innocent notions of adult integrity with the bleak reality of their discovery. The tenuous sense of normalcy Robert manages to sustain is broken with the appearance of Charlotte, the baby's young mother, on his doorstep. Retold 18 years later by an adult Nicky but written in the present tense, the story shifts brilliantly between childlike visions of a simple world and the growing realization of its cruel ambiguities. Aside from a few saccharine moments and a rather pat ending, Shreve does a skilled job of portraying grief, conflict and anger while leaving room for hope, redemption and renewal. Her characters are sympathetic without being pitiable, and her prose remains deceptively simple and eloquent throughout. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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About the Author:
Anita Shreve is the author of ten critically acclaimed and bestselling novels, all published in Abacus paperback.
From AudioFile:
A rare and beautiful recounting of the miracle of healing for a family wounded by catastrophic losses who manages to overcome and go forward, sometimes in uncharted and completely unexpected ways. Alyson Silverman's lyrical and sensitive reading showcases Shreve's clear and tempered account of a young girl and her father living in a kind of exile, trying to resume their lives after experiencing almost unimaginable loss and grief. One can literally feel the bone-chilling cold weather and their struggles through the deep snowdrifts as the beautifully developed characters create an experience that leaves the listener feeling privileged to have met such complex and wonderful people and shared their triumphs of spirit. L.C. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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