Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor (Friday Harbor, 1)
Lisa Kleypas, 2010
Publisher
240 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312605872
Summary
One rain-slicked night, six-year-old Holly lost the only parent she knew, her beloved mother Victoria. And since that night, she has never again spoken a word.
The last thing Mark Nolan needs is a six-year-old girl in his life. But he soon realizes that he will do everything he can to make her life whole again. His sister’s will gives him the instructions: There’s no other choice but you. Just start by loving her. The rest will follow.
Maggie Collins doesn’t dare believe in love again, after losing her husband of one year. But she does believe in the magic of imagination. As the owner of a toy shop, she lives what she loves. And when she meets Holly Nolan, she sees a little girl in desperate need of a little magic.
Three lonely people. Three lives at the crossroads. Three people who are about to discover that Christmas is the time of year when anything is possible, and when wishes have a way of finding the path home. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1964
• Where—N/A
• Education—B.A., Wellesley College
• Awards—RITA Award (twice)
• Currently—lives in Washington, USA
Lisa Kleypas is a best-selling American author of historical and contemporary romance novels.
Kleypas has always loved to read, especially within the romance genre. She began writing her own romance novels during her summer breaks from studying political science at Wellesley College, Her parents agreed to support her for a few months after her graduation so that she could finish her latest manuscript. Approximately two months later, at age 21, Kleypas sold her first novel.
At approximately the same time, the 5'2" Kleypas was named Miss Massachusetts. During her competition at the Miss America pageant, Kleypas sang a song she had written, earning her a "talented nonfinalist" award.
Kleypas has been a full-time romance writer since selling that first book. Her novels have ranked high on major best-seller lists, sold millions of copies around the globe and have been translated into fourteen different languages.
In October 1998, Kleypas's Texas home flooded within a matter of hours after heavy rains inundated their town. She and her family lost everything except the clothes they were wearing and her purse. Within days,her colleagues at Avon sent boxes of clothes and books to help the family recover. For Kleypas, though, the defining moment was the after the flood, when she and her mother (whose home had also flooded), made a quick trip to the store to purchase toothbrushes, clean clothes, and other necessities. Separately, each of them had also chosen a romance novel, a necessity to them in helping them escape the stress they were currently under. To Kleypas, this realization validated her decision to write romance novels instead of more literary works.
Though primarily known for her historical romance novels, Kleypas made an announcement in early 2006 concerning her momentary departure from historical romances to delve into the contemporary romance genre. She does plan to write historical romances again in the future.
Lisa lives in Washington with her husband, Gregory, and their two children. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Poignant, heartbreaking, and deeply satisfying.
RT Book Reviews
A sweet and romantic holiday love story…. Friday Harbor [is] a memorable place to visit.
A Romance Review
Kleypas (Love in the Afternoon) finds a little romantic magic in this spritely charmer. Mark Nolan's happy-go-lucky bachelorhood is interrupted by the death of his sister and his subsequent guardianship of her six-year-old daughter, Holly, who is traumatized into muteness and desperately seeking a maternal figure. Enter Maggie Collins, a toy shop owner who lost her own husband to cancer. As the holiday season draws closer, Maggie, Mark, and Holly begin to spend more time together, and Maggie and Mark's attraction becomes too powerful to ignore. Kleypas's holiday offering is sweet, romantic, and genuine, and avoids, thankfully, all the cheesy holiday miracle cliches. A solid romance with strong leads, this is a refreshing holiday treat.
Publishers Weekly
Thrown into instant fatherhood when his sister is killed in a car accident and he becomes the guardian of six-year-old Holly, practical, no-nonsense businessman Mark Nolan needs all the help he can get. He just doesn't expect it to come from imaginative Maggie Collins, the young, insightful widowed owner of the Friday Harbor toy store, who uses a "magic" conch shell to coax Holly to say her first words since the accident. Intrigued by Holly's immediate connection to a virtual stranger and curious about Maggie, Mark soon realizes she is "The One." Now he just needs to wait for Maggie to be brave enough to risk her heart once more. Verdict: With the perfect amount of local San Juan Island detail, an abundance of realistic, appealing, and a new take on the classic "bachelor father" plot, this well-written, heartwarming, gently humorous story is a charmer from start to finish. Kleypas (Love in the Afternoon) lives in the Pacific Northwest.
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
1. Mark and Sam accept the responsibility of raising their niece Holly, even though they have no previous experience with children. What are some of the positive and/or negative ways that instant parenthood would affect someone's life?
2. Mark tells Maggie, "Being alone isn't safety. It's just being alone." Maggie believes that she is
protecting herself by staying alone, but is she?
3. Mark considers that his parents' marriage "had featured all the worst components of marriage, but
none of its graces." How has his parents' relationship shaped the 3 Nolan children? Has the memories
of your parents' relationship affected the way you relate to people now? If so, in what way(s)?
4. At the beginning of the story, Mark thinks that a "strict diet of reality" is best for a child. Do you
agree? Should a child be allowed to believe in things like the tooth fairy or Santa Claus?
5. Maggie tells Mark that two uncles and a little girl can be defined as a family. Do you agree? How do
you define a family?
6. Mark tells Holly that "love is a choice." However, in Holly's opinion, "love is something that happens
to you." Whose view do you agree with, and why?
7. Elizabeth advises Maggie, "You have a new life. Keep the old friends, but it doesn't hurt to add some
new ones." Why might you need to add new friends for a new phase of your life? What could they
bring to the relationship that would be different from what old friends can offer?
8. While thinking about the death of her husband, Maggie reflects that "the loss would always stay
with you, like a reminder note pinned to the inside of your jacket." How long do you think a widow or
widower should wait before trying to find love again? How would someone know that she or he is
ready for new emotional risk? What are some of the possible complications of dating a widow or
widower?
9. Mark says, "I don't know that being right for each other is always the best foundation for a
relationship." What do you think he means?
10. Mark tells Maggie, "I've never thought of a failed relationship as a waste of time. You always learn
something." What is the most important thing you've learned from a failed relationship?
11. Some of Maggie's family holiday traditions, such as having her special mac and cheese dish, are
mentioned in the story. What are some of your favorite holiday traditions, and what do they mean to
you?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Rainshadow Road (Friday Harbor, 2)
Lisa Kleypas, 2012
St. Martin's Press
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312605889
Summary
Lucy Marinn is a glass artist living in mystical, beautiful, Friday Harbor, Washington. She is stunned and blindsided by the most bitter kind of betrayal: her fiance Kevin has left her. His new lover is Lucy’s own sister. Lucy's bitterness over being dumped is multiplied by the fact that she has constantly made the wrong choices in her romantic life. Facing the severe disapproval of Lucy's parents, Kevin asks his friend Sam Nolan, a local vineyard owner on San Juan Island, to "romance" Lucy and hopefully loosen her up and get her over her anger.
Complications ensue when Sam and Lucy begin to fall in love, Kevin has second thoughts, and Lucy discovers that the new relationship in her life began under false pretenses. Questions about love, loyalty, old patterns, mistakes, and new beginnings are explored as Lucy learns that some things in life—even after being broken—can be made into something new and beautiful. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1964
• Where—N/A
• Education—B.A., Wellesley College
• Awards—RITA Award (twice)
• Currently—lives in Washington, USA
Lisa Kleypas is a best-selling American author of historical and contemporary romance novels.
Kleypas has always loved to read, especially within the romance genre. She began writing her own romance novels during her summer breaks from studying political science at Wellesley College, Her parents agreed to support her for a few months after her graduation so that she could finish her latest manuscript. Approximately two months later, at age 21, Kleypas sold her first novel.
At approximately the same time, the 5'2" Kleypas was named Miss Massachusetts. During her competition at the Miss America pageant, Kleypas sang a song she had written, earning her a "talented nonfinalist" award.
Kleypas has been a full-time romance writer since selling that first book. Her novels have ranked high on major best-seller lists, sold millions of copies around the globe and have been translated into fourteen different languages.
In October 1998, Kleypas's Texas home flooded within a matter of hours after heavy rains inundated their town. She and her family lost everything except the clothes they were wearing and her purse. Within days,her colleagues at Avon sent boxes of clothes and books to help the family recover. For Kleypas, though, the defining moment was the after the flood, when she and her mother (whose home had also flooded), made a quick trip to the store to purchase toothbrushes, clean clothes, and other necessities. Separately, each of them had also chosen a romance novel, a necessity to them in helping them escape the stress they were currently under. To Kleypas, this realization validated her decision to write romance novels instead of more literary works.
Though primarily known for her historical romance novels, Kleypas made an announcement in early 2006 concerning her momentary departure from historical romances to delve into the contemporary romance genre. She does plan to write historical romances again in the future.
Lisa lives in Washington with her husband, Gregory, and their two children. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Kleypas launches the Friday Harbor trilogy with a delightful portrait of a picturesque town where people know everything about everyone and look out for each other. Friday Harbor, Wash., gets claustrophobic for Lucy Marinn when her boyfriend of two years dumps her in favor of her younger sister, Alice. Lucy meets and falls for Sam Nolan and they discover how to love and trust together against the backdrop of his vineyard and her work on a stained glass window. The subtle element of magic is unnecessary, but it evokes sweetness and gives Sam and Lucy a way to build their trust. The relationship between Lucy and Alice is complex, dating back to their childhood, and gives Alice more definition than the usual man-stealing antagonist. Kleypas enchantingly weaves together additional connections with relatives and friends, leaving many dangling threads that will lead the reader straight to book [three].
Publishers Weekly
Shaken when her boyfriend of two years throws her over for her younger, self-centered sister, glass artist Lucy Marinn is not about to be drawn into another serious relationship—especially not with the attractive man she encounters on the beach right after her breakup. Vintner Sam Nolan isn't into committed relationships either, so a casual, no-strings affair with Lucy is the perfect thing—until their feelings get in the way. Verdict: A hero who's afraid of commitment, a heroine who never felt loved quite enough, and an abundance of memorable characters combine in a story that brings families and their varying dynamics into sharp focus. With a dash of enchantingly believable magic, Kleypas nicely progresses the story begun in the series opener, Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) In the latest flawlessly written addition to her contemporary Friday Harbor books and the first in a new trilogy, Kleypas brings together richly nuanced characters, an emotionally riveting plot, and a subtle touch of the paranormal to create an unforgettable romance that is pure reading magic.
Booklist
A little romance and a little magic make for a surprising page-turner as a glass artist falls for a vintner on an island in the Puget Sound. It comes as quite a shock when Kevin tells Lucy their relationship is over.... Reeling from the news, Lucy takes a walk on the beach and runs into Sam Nolan, a handsome, rakish grape grower and confirmed bachelor. The two strike up a saucy friendship, but agree that anything more would be disastrous.... They both resist the sexual energy, but then confess their deepest secrets: Lucy can convert glass into living things (like fireflies) and Sam can will plants to grow. Will Sam admit he's in love with Lucy? Will Kevin and Alice really marry? Will Lucy take the art grant in New York or stay pining for Sam? Strengthened by characters with depth and something interesting to say, this winning first installment in a trilogy is sure to thrill fans of modern romantic fiction.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. How can adult siblings move past the old conflicts of their shared childhood? Is there anything parents can do to help prevent rivalry between their children, or is it inevitable?
2. Is there any acceptable way for someone to have a relationship with one person and then have a relationship with that person’s sibling? What about two best friends? What about two acquaintances? Where would you draw the line?
3. Justine advises Lucy to “lower her standards” in order to find a decent guy to go out with. Do you know anyone whose standards are too high? Is there any merit in “settling” for someone?
4. According to Sam, “sex is the canary in the coal mine” of a relationship—do you agree?
5. Sam and Mark are both concerned about their brother Alex’s drinking. How would you handle it if you felt that a close friend or sibling was drinking too much?
6. Are there any benefits to a “no strings attached” relationship, or is it always a bad idea?
7. Lucy’s parents, Phillip and Cherise Marinn, have experienced a strain in their marriage because the memory of his first wife is still between them. What is the difference between “moving on” and “letting go” for a widow or widower?
8. Lucy tells Kevin that he and Alice seem to believe “happiness is this thing you have to chase after, like a child with a shiny toy.” What is true happiness, and how do you achieve it?
9. Many women struggle with choices between career and personal life. Have you ever given up a career opportunity for the sake of a personal relationship or a family member? Did you regret your choice, or was it worth it?
10. Do you feel that every person in this novel got what he or she deserved? Why, or why not?
11. What would you love to see happen in subsequent Friday Harbor novels?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Dream Lake (Friday Harbor Series, 3)
Lisa Kleypas, 2012
St. Martin's Press
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250008299
Summary
Dream Lake takes readers once again to the exquisite setting of Friday Harbor, and tells the story of Zoe Hoffman, an innkeeper who has all but given up on love. She’s a gentle, romantic soul, but has been so hurt in the past that she dare not trust her heart with anyone. Especially not Alex Nolan. Alex is the most haunted of all the Nolan brothers. He drinks to keep his demons at bay and not only has he given up on love, he has never, ever believed in it.
Zoe and Alex are oil and water, fire and ice, sunshine and shadow. But sometimes, it takes only a glimmer of light to chase away the dark. Dream Lake is classic Lisa Kleypas: romantic, powerful, emotional, and magical. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1964
• Where—N/A
• Education—B.A., Wellesley College
• Awards—RITA Award (twice)
• Currently—lives in Washington, USA
Lisa Kleypas is a best-selling American author of historical and contemporary romance novels.
Kleypas has always loved to read, especially within the romance genre. She began writing her own romance novels during her summer breaks from studying political science at Wellesley College, Her parents agreed to support her for a few months after her graduation so that she could finish her latest manuscript. Approximately two months later, at age 21, Kleypas sold her first novel.
At approximately the same time, the 5'2" Kleypas was named Miss Massachusetts. During her competition at the Miss America pageant, Kleypas sang a song she had written, earning her a "talented nonfinalist" award.
Kleypas has been a full-time romance writer since selling that first book. Her novels have ranked high on major best-seller lists, sold millions of copies around the globe and have been translated into fourteen different languages.
In October 1998, Kleypas's Texas home flooded within a matter of hours after heavy rains inundated their town. She and her family lost everything except the clothes they were wearing and her purse. Within days,her colleagues at Avon sent boxes of clothes and books to help the family recover. For Kleypas, though, the defining moment was the after the flood, when she and her mother (whose home had also flooded), made a quick trip to the store to purchase toothbrushes, clean clothes, and other necessities. Separately, each of them had also chosen a romance novel, a necessity to them in helping them escape the stress they were currently under. To Kleypas, this realization validated her decision to write romance novels instead of more literary works.
Though primarily known for her historical romance novels, Kleypas made an announcement in early 2006 concerning her momentary departure from historical romances to delve into the contemporary romance genre. She does plan to write historical romances again in the future.
Lisa lives in Washington with her husband, Gregory, and their two children. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
It works perfectly. With her effortlessly poetic prose and flawless characterisation, Kleypas managed to make every page feel like a delicious morsel for your mind to devour. We savoured every single word.... Dream Lake is a thing of beauty from start to finish. Read it!
Heat Magazine
This is a romance - and a lovely one.... The tie between the past generation and the present is particularly well done, as poignant as an old song
RT Book Reviews
The amnesiac ghost of a World War II pilot could be just what Alex Nolan needs. The third in Kleypas' (Rainshadow Road, 2012, etc.) Friday Harbor series follows the fortunes of the youngest Nolan brother. Emotionally starved by his alcoholic parents, Alex learned to trust no one. When his wife, Darcy, asks for a divorce.... Erasing himself bit by bit, Alex nonetheless begins helping his brother, Sam, renovate a beautiful home on Rainshadow Road. The moment Zoe Hoffman walks in the door with a plate of blueberry muffins, however, Alex realizes he is in trouble.... Alex and Zoe are clearly meant for each other and predictably try to deny their obvious attraction. Luckily, Alex has also met the ghost, who has lived in the old house for over 60 years.... Surprisingly, the ghost character works, allowing other magical events in the novel to seem less contrived. A little magic, a lot of romance and well-drawn characters make a satisfying read.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Do you believe in ghosts? If so, why? If not, why not? Have you had any experience with supernatural events in your life?
2. What factors do you think have brought Alex Nolan to the bad state he is in when the novel opens? And in what ways do you see Alex’s story mirrored in the ghost’s?
3. Zoe and Alex are opposites in every way. Do you believe this made their attraction more compelling?
4. Of the three Nolan brothers, why do you think Alex is the most damaged, even though they all come from the same family background?
5. What was the turning point for you in Alex and Zoe’s relationship? When did you truly believe that these two belonged together? Was there any moment in the book when you felt that they should not be together?
6. How realistically do you think the author handled Alzheimer’s disease in this novel?
7. In the context of the novel, do you believe that the childlike aspects of Alzheimer’s make one more open to the possibilities of the supernatural?
8. What elements of Friday Harbor itself make it come alive to you? Is Friday Harbor a place you’d like to visit? To live? Why or why not?
9. Why do you think the ghost could not cross over and what do you believe occurred to make it possible?
10. What is the author trying to say about true love and the power of love?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
The Testament of Mary
Colm Toibin, 2012
Scribner
386 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781451692389
Summary
Colm Toibin’s portrait of Mary presents her as a solitary older woman still seeking to understand the events that become the narrative of the New Testament and the foundation of Christianity.
In the ancient town of Ephesus, Mary lives alone, years after her son’s crucifixion. She has no interest in collaborating with the authors of the Gospel. They are her keepers, providing her with food and shelter and visiting her regularly. She does not agree that her son is the Son of God; nor that his death was “worth it”; nor that the “group of misfits he gathered around him, men who could not look a woman in the eye,” were holy disciples.
Mary judges herself ruthlessly (she did not stay at the foot of the Cross until her son died—she fled, to save herself), and her judgment of others is equally harsh. This woman whom we know from centuries of paintings and scripture as the docile, loving, silent, long-suffering, obedient, worshipful mother of Christ becomes a tragic heroine with the relentless eloquence of Electra or Medea or Antigone. Toibin’s tour de force of imagination and language is a portrait so vivid and convincing that our image of Mary will be forever transformed. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 30, 1955
• Where—Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland, UK
• Education—B.A. University College, Dublin
• Awards—Costa Award
• Currently—lives in Dublin, Ireland
Colm Toibin is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic, and, most recently, poet.
Toibin is currently Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester. He was hailed as a champion of minorities as he collected the 2011 Irish PEN Award. In 2011, he was named one of Britain's Top 300 Intellectuals by The Observer, despite being Irish.
Early Life
Toibin's parents were Bríd and Michael Toibin. He was born in 1955 in Enniscorthy, County Wexford, in the southeast of Ireland. He is the second youngest of five children. His grandfather, Patrick Tobin, was a member of the IRA, as was his grand-uncle Michael Tobin. Patrick Tobin took part in the 1916 Rebellion in Enniscorthy and was subsequently interned in Frongoch in Wales. Colm's father was a teacher who was involved in the Fianna Fail party in Enniscorthy. He received his secondary education at St Peter's College, Wexford, where he was a boarder between 1970 and 1972. He later spoke of finding some of the priests attractive.
In July 1972, aged 17, he had a summer job as a barman in the Grand Hotel in Tramore, County Waterford, working from six in the evening to two in the morning. He spent his days on the beach, reading The Essential Hemingway, the copy of which he still professes to have, "pages stained with seawater." It developed in him a fascination with Spain, led to a wish to visit that country, gave him "an idea of prose as something glamorous, smart and shaped, and the idea of character in fiction as something oddly mysterious, worthy of sympathy and admiration, but also elusive. And more than anything, the sheer pleasure of the sentences and their rhythms, and the amount of emotion living in what was not said, what was between the words and the sentences."
He progressed to University College Dublin, graduating in 1975. Immediately after graduation, he left for Barcelona. His first novel, 1990's The South, was partly inspired by his time in Barcelona; as was, more directly, his non-fiction Homage to Barcelona (1990). Having returned to Ireland in 1978, he began to study for a masters degree. However, he did not submit his thesis and left academia, at least partly, for a career in journalism.
The early 1980s were an especially bright period in Irish journalism, and the heyday for the monthly news magazine Magill. He became the magazine's editor in 1982, and remained in the position until 1985. He left due to a dispute with Vincent Browne, Magill's managing director.
Toibin is a member of Aosdana and has been visiting professor at Stanford University, The University of Texas at Austin and Princeton University. He has also lectured at several other universities, including Boston College, New York University, Loyola University Maryland, and The College of the Holy Cross. He is professor of creative writing at The University of Manchester succeeding Martin Amis and currently teaches at Columbia University.
Work
The Heather Blazing (1992), his second novel, was followed by The Story of the Night (1996) and The Blackwater Lightship (1999). His fifth novel, The Master (2004), is a fictional account of portions in the life of author Henry James. He is the author of other non-fiction books: Bad Blood: A Walk Along the Irish Border (1994), (reprinted from the 1987 original edition) and The Sign of the Cross: Travels in Catholic Europe (1994).
Toibin has written two short story collections. His first Mothers and Sons which, as the name suggests, explores the relationship between mothers and their sons, was published in 2006 and was reviewed favourably (including by Pico Iyer in The New York Times). His second, broader collection The Empty Family was published in 2010.
Toibin wrote a play, titled Beauty in a Broken Place: this was staged in Dublin in August 2004. He has continued to work as a journalist, both in Ireland and abroad, writing for the London Review of Books among others. He has also achieved a reputation as a literary critic: he has edited a book on Paul Durcan, The Kilfenora Teaboy (1997); The Penguin Book of Irish Fiction (1999); and has written The Modern Library: The 200 Best Novels in English since 1950 (1999), with Carmen Callil; a collection of essays, Love in a Dark Time: Gay Lives from Wilde to Almodovar (2002); and a study on Lady Gregory, Lady Gregory's Toothbrush (2002).
He sent a photograph of Borges to Don DeLillo who described it as "the face of Borges against a dark background—Borges fierce, blind, his nostrils gaping, his skin stretched taut, his mouth amazingly vivid; his mouth looks painted; he’s like a shaman painted for visions, and the whole face has a kind of steely rapture." DeLillo often seeks inspiration from it.
During Desmond Hogan's sexual assault case he defended him in court as "a writer of immense power and importance who dealt with human isolation."
In 2011, The Times Literary Supplement published his poem "Cush Gap, 2007".
Toibín works in the most extreme, severe, austere conditions. He sits on a hard, uncomfortable chair which causes him pain. When working on a first draft he covers the right-hand side only of the page; later he carries out some rewriting on the left-hand side of the page. He keeps a word processor in another room on which to transfer writing at a later time.
Themes
Toibin's work explores several main lines: the depiction of Irish society, living abroad, the process of creativity and the preservation of a personal identity, focusing especially on homosexual identities — Toibín is openly gay — but also on identity when confronted with loss. The "Wexford" novels, The Heather Blazing and The Blackwater Lightship, use Enniscorthy, the town of Toibín's birth, as narrative material, together with the history of Ireland and the death of his father. An autobiographical account and reflection on this episode can be found in the non-fiction book, The Sign of the Cross. In 2009, he published Brooklyn, a tale of a woman emigrating to Brooklyn from Enniscorthy.
Two other novels, The Story of the Night and The Master revolve around characters who have to deal with a homosexual identity and take place outside Ireland for the most part, with a character having to cope with living abroad. His first novel, The South, seems to have ingredients of both lines of work. It can be read together with The Heather Blazing as a diptych of Protestant and Catholic heritages in County Wexford, or it can be grouped with the "living abroad" novels. A third topic that links The South and The Heather Blazing is that of creation. Of painting in the first case and of the careful wording of a judge's verdict in the second. This third thematic line culminated in The Master, a study on identity, preceded by a non-fiction book in the same subject, Love in a Dark Time. The book of short stories "Mothers and Sons" deal with family themes, both in Ireland and Catalonia, and homosexuality.
Toibín has written about gay sex in several novels, though Brooklyn contains a heterosexual sex scene in which the heroine loses her virginity. In his 2012 essay collection New Ways to Kill Your Mother: Writers and Their Families he studies the biographies of James Baldwin, J. M. Synge and W. B. Yeats, among others.
His personal notes and work books reside at the National Library of Ireland. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Unlike other writers who, in rendering the historical past, leave their poetic and image-making gifts at the door, Toibin is at his lyrical best in The Testament of Mary.... A beautiful and daring work. Originally performed as a one-woman show in Dublin, it takes its power from the surprises of its language, its almost shocking characterization, its austere refusal of consolation. The source of this mother's grief is as much the nature of humankind as the cruel fate of her own son.
Mary Gordon - New York Times Book Review
This novel is the Virgin's version of the life of Christ. After a lifetime listening to everyone else's versions of that life, she is angry and frustrated because they are all questionable.
John Spain - Irish Independent
The Testament of Mary is an important and persuasive book: Toibin's weary Mary, sceptical and grudging, reads as far more true and real than the saintly perpetual virgin of legend. And Toibin is a wonderful writer: as ever, his lyrical and moving prose is the real miracle.”
Naomi Alderman - Observer
With this masterly novella, Toibin has finally tackled the subject of Christianity—and he has done so with a vengeance.... Nowhere in this beguiling and deeply intelligent, moving work is Mary’s attention to detail more instrumental (and more like a novelist’s) than in her account of her son’s death.... In a single passage—and in a rendition, furthermore, of one of the most famous passages of western literature—Toibin shows how the telling and the details are all-important.
Robert Collins - Sunday Times (UK)
Toibin (Brooklyn) has chosen Jesus’ mother as the narrator of his poignant reimagining of the last days of Christ. Mary doesn’t think her son is the son of God; in fact, she’s convinced that he’s simply running with the wrong crowd, “Something about the earnestness of those young men repelled me... the sense that there was something missing in each one of them.” But when she recounts the story of Lazarus’s return from the grave, she presents no other explanation than that of his sisters, that Jesus was the one who brought him back. At the wedding at Cana, she sees Lazarus for herself and finds that “he was in possession of a knowledge that seemed to me to have unnerved him; he had tasted something or seen or heard something which had filled him with the purest pain....” This beautiful novella turns on who or what Mary should believe about her son’s life and death—and on a mother’s grief: “I saw that once again he was trying to remove the thorns that were cutting into his forehead and the back of his head and, failing to do anything to help himself, he lifted his head for a moment and his eyes caught mine.” .
Publishers Weekly
Toibin's Mary is nothing like you'd expect, especially if your religious views run to the traditional. She doesn't think Jesus was the Son of God, that his death had any significance, and that the motley men surrounding him (her "keepers" now) are holy disciples. She also blames herself for abandoning her son on the Cross to save her own life. Tóibín is one of the few authors I can imagine shaking Mary loose of two millennia of prayer, chant, and painting so that we can see her afresh
Library Journal
A stunning interpretation that is as beautiful in its presentation as it is provocative in its intention.
Booklist
A novella that builds to a provocative climax, one that is as spiritually profound as its prose is plainspoken. At the outset, the latest from the esteemed Irish author (Brooklyn, 2009, etc.) seems like a "high concept" breather from his longer, more complex fiction.... What follows the crucifixion gives a whole new dimension to the testament, for Mary and the reader alike. A work suffused with mystery and wonder.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.
The Things We Do For Love
Kristin Hannah, 2004
Random House
432 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780345520807
Summary
Years of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a child have broken more than Angie DeSaria’s heart. Following a painful divorce, she moves back to her small Pacific Northwest hometown and takes over management of her family’s restaurant. In West End, where life rises and falls like the tides, Angie’s fortunes will drastically change yet again when she meets and befriends a troubled young woman.
Angie hires Lauren Ribido because she sees something special in the seventeen-year-old. They quickly form a deep bond, and when Lauren is abandoned by her mother, Angie offers the girl a place to stay. But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. Together, these two women—one who longs for a child and the other who longs for a mother’s love—will be tested in ways that neither could have imagined. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—September, 1960
• Where—Southern California, USA
• Reared—Western Washington State
• Education—J.D., from a school in Washington (state)
• Awards—Golden Heart Award; Maggie Award; National Reader's Choice
• Currently—lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington
In her words
I was born in September 1960 in Southern California and grew up at the beach, making sand castles and playing in the surf. When I was eight years old, my father drove us to Western Washington where we called home. After working in a trendy advertising agency, I decided to go to law school. "But you're going to be a writer" are the prophetic words I will never forget from my mother. I was in my third-and final-year of law school and my mom was in the hospital, facing the end of her long battle with cancer. I was shocked to discover that she believed I would become a writer. For the next few months, we collaborated on the worst, most clichéd historical romance ever written.
After my mom's death, I packed up all those bits and pieces of paper we'd collected and put them in a box in the back of my closet. I got married and continued practicing law.
Then I found out I was pregnant, but was on bed rest for five months. By the time I'd read every book in the house and started asking my husband for cereal boxes to read, I knew I was a goner. That's when my darling husband reminded me of the book I'd started with my mom. I pulled out the boxes of research material, dusted them off and began writing. By the time my son was born, I'd finished a first draft and found an obsession.
The rejections came, of course, and they stung for a while, but each one really just spurred me to try harder, work more. In 1990, I got "the call," and in that moment, I went from a young mother with a cooler-than-average hobby to a professional writer, and I've never looked back. In all the years between then and now, I have never lost my love of, or my enthusiasm for, telling stories. I am truly blessed to be a wife, a mother, and a writer. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
In this tear-jerking novel by Hannah (Between Sisters), 38-year-old Angela Malone abandons a successful advertising career in Seattle to find comfort in West End, the small Pacific Northwest coastal town where she grew up. Pregnancy woes (chronic miscarriages, a baby who lived only for five days and a botched adoption) have caused her marriage to journalist Conlan to end in divorce. Her big, warmhearted Italian family welcomes her with open arms, and she throws herself into revamping the family restaurant, DeSaria's. Then she befriends hard-working teenager Lauren Ribido, who's in need of a new coat, some mothering and, later on, a place to live. Lauren's life is far worse than self-pitying Angie's—she's pregnant, her alcoholic mother has given up on her, and her rich boyfriend, David, is off to his first-choice college. Lauren can't go through with the abortion David encourages her to have, and the next step seems obvious: she should give the baby up to Angie, who's on the way to reconciling with Conlan. Hannah stacks the odds against Lauren almost absurdly, and makes her life with Angie a rose-tinted dream come true, but she paints a wrenching, convincing picture of the dilemma teenage mothers face. Familiar but warmly rendered characters, a few surprising twists and a bittersweet ending make this satisfying summer reading.
Publishers Weekly
In her latest novel, Hannah (On Mystic Lake) tells the story of a woman so consumed by her inability to have a child that her relationships with her family, her friends, and especially her husband are damaged. After divorcing, Angie Malone returns home to care for her aging mother and try to salvage the family's floundering restaurant business. She offers the teenaged Lauren Ribido a job as a waitress. Cautious about becoming too emotionally involved with the young woman, Angie watches Lauren cope with school, a distant and perpetually drunk mother, and a romantic relationship with a wealthy high school boyfriend. When an unexpected (but predictable) pregnancy forces Lauren to give up her dreams, Angie must come to grips with how much help she can offer the young woman. Hannah strikes a serious and quite somber chord, bringing a thoughtful, insightful touch to Angie's attempts to restart her marriage, bond with her siblings, and assist Lauren. The romantic aspect of the novel takes a distant second place to the relationship between the two women and the complicated issues of grief, childbearing, and acceptance. A worthwhile addition to any public library fiction collection. —Margaret Hanes, Sterling Heights P.L., MI
Library Journal
Best-selling Hannah's latest sensitive tale explores the need we all have for love in a portrait of two women of different ages and backgrounds. Angie Malone has come back to her small Washington State town after suffering the loss of a child, the end of a marriage, and the death of her father. Nestled in the bosom of her family...as she copes with her grief.... When Angie reaches out to 18-year-old Lauren Ribido,...they worry that she'll be disappointed. Lauren has not had an easy life.... Angie becomes attached to her and acts like a surrogate mother as they embark on a shaky friendship. Hannah captures the joy and heartache of family as she draws the reader into the lives of her characters and makes them feel like personal friends, proving once again why she is a star of women's fiction. —Patty Engelmann
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. Kristin Hannah begins her novel with a quote from writer/ philosopher Henry David Thoreau: “Things do not change; we change.” Do you think the events of the novel are responsible for Angie’s personal growth?
2. The Things We Do for Love focuses on two women, both in relationships burdened by an overwhelming problem.Why does Conlan and Angie’s relationship weather the storm whereas Lauren and David’s relationship does not?
3. Lauren wonders about her mother’s emotional neglect, “So why did it still hurt, after all these years? You’d think a heart would grow calluses at some point.” Why didn’t Lauren’s heart grow calluses? What was the source of hope before meeting Angie? How was she able to envision a better life for herself?
4. Descriptions of the town of West End proliferate in the novel. It is a place characterized by dramatic fluctuations in weather and even in population between the tourist season and the quiet winters. It is a small town, but it holds radically different associations for each character. How is Angie’s West End different from Lauren’s West End or David’s West End? In what ways is the town itself a character in the book?
5. Lauren’s childhood was marked by a dearth of two important things: love and money. Does Lauren, consciously or not, think that these two things go together? Is she attracted to David’s family money, or does she love him in spite of it?
6. Does Angie believe that her mother can communicate with her late father?
7. “Lauren wanted to push the hair out of her mother’s eyes but she didn’t dare. It was the kind of intimacy that could ruin everything.” Why is Lauren afraid of establishing intimacy with her mother? What does she fear would result from these impulses?
8. It is much easier for Lauren to tell her mother that she’s pregnant than it is for her to tell Angie. Why?
9. Were you surprised by Lauren’s decision to have the baby? What aspects of Lauren’s personality may have served as clues toward predicting what decision she would eventually make?
10. Lauren’s relationship with Angie gives her a new, powerful confidence that she has never felt before. How does this confidence change the way Lauren interacts with her world? Does it bring her closer to the other people in her life, or does it alienate her?
11. David’s mother tells Lauren that “motherhood changes who you are.” How do you think that having a child changes a woman? Angie is the only woman in the novel who is not technically a mother. How is she different from the ‘mothers’ that surround her?
12. There are a handful of times in the book where Angie prays. Does Angie strike you as a religious woman? How does she relate to her family’s Catholicism? For what (or whom) does she pray?
13. Conlan and Angie’s first few encounters on their road to reconciliation take place in their bedrooms. Why do you think it is easier for them, after having been married for so long, to show their love for each other physically before having a discussion?
14. Obviously, food plays a large role in the DeSaria family’s traditions and daily life. They attribute to a good meal the power to heal and to conjure feelings of joy and togetherness. But food has negative connotations in the novel as well: lack, loneliness, and inadequacy. How are Lauren and Angie’s relationships with food similar?
15. When Conlan shows up at the cottage on Christmas Eve, he says that he came to meet Lauren. Why is meeting Lauren such a priority for him? What do you think his expectations of Lauren were? How does his impression of her after they meet change his mind about Angie’s decision to take Lauren in?
16. Lauren remarks about her unplanned pregnancy: “A smart girl would have done things differently.” Do you agree with that statement?
17. When Lauren asks Angie to raise her unborn baby, Angie is immediately certain that it would be “doing the wrong thing.” What is Angie really worried about, and why? How do the concepts of right and wrong play into this life-altering decision?
18. Conlan tells Lauren that she did a grown-up thing, which is not the same as being a grown-up. Do you think that Lauren matures throughout the course of the novel?
19. Lauren tells David that if she hadn’t gotten pregnant they might have stayed together forever. How did the baby create weakness in their relationship, or did it just illuminate a weakness that already existed?
20. When Lauren left the hospital with her baby in tow, she followed her heart and struck out on her own with no safety net in sight; but she also broke a promise that she’d made to someone she loved, and didn’t stick around to defend her choice. Do you think that what Lauren did was brave or cowardly?
21. What do you think the future holds for Angie? Do you think that she’s truly ready to help raise a baby, under her own roof, that will never be her own? What strategies do you think she should employ to make it work?
(Questions issued by publisher.)