Jane Green
Language: English
ISBN
Contemporary
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Published: Jun 15, 2008
Bestseller Green (Swapping Lives, The Other Woman) injects a topical note into an otherwise paint-by-numbers work. After a terrorist attack on an Amtrak train kills 39-year-old Tom, his death serves as the catalyst for changes in the lives of four estranged schoolmates he left behind in England. Reuniting at Tom's memorial service are Holly, a former free spirit uncomfortably forced into becoming a suburban matron by her workaholic, social-climbing husband; Olivia, a lonely director of an animal shelter; Paul, a writer whose blissful marriage with his fashionable wife is marred by their inability to conceive; and Saffron, a recovering alcoholic actress secretly involved with a married Hollywood megastar. Tom's death reignites their friendship, causes them to reevaluate their lives and sends them marching toward a concluding warm fuzzy. Green's writing is competent, though her characters feel more like embodiments of their problems than actual people. There are few surprises, but the fairy tale ending should appease Green's many fans. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Green, author of chick-lit favorites Swapping Lives (2006) and The Other Woman (2005), explores the way one man's death affects the lives of his friends. Tom Fitzgerald, a Brit living in the States, is only 39 when he kisses his wife and children good-bye and boards a doomed train. In the wake of his death, his friends, some of whom haven't seen in each other in nearly two decades, come together to remember him. Despite one night of passion, Holly and Tom remained best friends, and she thinks she is content with her picture-perfect life despite a lack of love for her husband until she reconnects with Tom's charismatic, introspective younger brother. Olivia takes a chance on a man Tom set her up with shortly before he died. An actress in L.A., Saffron has fallen in love with one of Hollywood's sexiest stars, but she is growing tired of waiting for him to leave his loveless marriage. Paul and Anna couldn't love each other more, but her inability to conceive a child mars their happy marriage. Peopled with her trademark likable, sympathetic characters, Green's latest is sure to have wide appeal. Kristine HuntleyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Description:
From Publishers Weekly
Bestseller Green (Swapping Lives, The Other Woman) injects a topical note into an otherwise paint-by-numbers work. After a terrorist attack on an Amtrak train kills 39-year-old Tom, his death serves as the catalyst for changes in the lives of four estranged schoolmates he left behind in England. Reuniting at Tom's memorial service are Holly, a former free spirit uncomfortably forced into becoming a suburban matron by her workaholic, social-climbing husband; Olivia, a lonely director of an animal shelter; Paul, a writer whose blissful marriage with his fashionable wife is marred by their inability to conceive; and Saffron, a recovering alcoholic actress secretly involved with a married Hollywood megastar. Tom's death reignites their friendship, causes them to reevaluate their lives and sends them marching toward a concluding warm fuzzy. Green's writing is competent, though her characters feel more like embodiments of their problems than actual people. There are few surprises, but the fairy tale ending should appease Green's many fans.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From
Green, author of chick-lit favorites Swapping Lives (2006) and The Other Woman (2005), explores the way one man's death affects the lives of his friends. Tom Fitzgerald, a Brit living in the States, is only 39 when he kisses his wife and children good-bye and boards a doomed train. In the wake of his death, his friends, some of whom haven't seen in each other in nearly two decades, come together to remember him. Despite one night of passion, Holly and Tom remained best friends, and she thinks she is content with her picture-perfect life despite a lack of love for her husband until she reconnects with Tom's charismatic, introspective younger brother. Olivia takes a chance on a man Tom set her up with shortly before he died. An actress in L.A., Saffron has fallen in love with one of Hollywood's sexiest stars, but she is growing tired of waiting for him to leave his loveless marriage. Paul and Anna couldn't love each other more, but her inability to conceive a child mars their happy marriage. Peopled with her trademark likable, sympathetic characters, Green's latest is sure to have wide appeal. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved