As The Red House begins, we meet Laura, a 42 year old woman, who has acted on an impulse, an impulse building since she was 12 years old, and traveledAs The Red House begins, we meet Laura, a 42 year old woman, who has acted on an impulse, an impulse building since she was 12 years old, and traveled to Italy. Thirty years earlier, her mother, Viola, disappeared from her home, leaving Laura, her younger daughter, and her husband behind. They never heard from their wife and mother again. In The Red House, Mary Morris has created a novel that moves back and forth in time, tracing Viola鈥檚 life as a child in wartime Italy, Laura鈥檚 experience as Viola鈥檚 daughter for twelve years and then her motherless years, then her search in Italy for evidence of Viola鈥檚 life and family and any clues about her disappearance.
Viola had always professed to having no family and never discussed her life during the war so Laura鈥檚 trip to Italy is a desperate move to go to the place where her parents met after the war, where she was born and lived for the first few years of her life. Her primary focus-to find the red house, the seemingly obsessive subject of so many of her mother鈥檚 paintings. To do this, she must fight the demons of her memory and learn of the nature of World War II in Italy. There is much to learn and surprises ahead. None of it is easy.
While this is an interesting story with a very different look at WWII and the carryover of damage over generations, I found the structure of the story slowed my reading down. There are major portions of the book devoted to each time and the mother/daughter duo, but there are also frequent time/narrator changes chapter to chapter within each section. I did not find it confusing but I simply found it slowed me down. I am glad that I read this book as it has an unusual look at the post war family, at least a look with complexities over time and generations that I have never read before.
Rating 3.5* rounded to 3.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an eARC of this book....more
There is a sense of menace in The Children of Eve. Early on it鈥檚 quite ambiguous but lingers even amidst what appear to be routine activities for CharThere is a sense of menace in The Children of Eve. Early on it鈥檚 quite ambiguous but lingers even amidst what appear to be routine activities for Charlie Parker, his friends, associates, loved ones and various clients. Charlie is self-admittedly middle aged now, dealing with the daily physical side effects of his rough life. And he appears to have found a steady woman interested in him with Macy. Angel and Luis have their Maine quarters set up too. So all that remains is Parker鈥檚 work life, the private investigations.
As this novel begins, Charlie is hired by a local artist to locate the man who has been living with her. He suddenly took off after a phone call, leaving everything behind. The only lead鈥e works at the local cannabis distributor and is ex-military. Not much to go on. But Charlie begins his persistent pursuit of facts.
Meanwhile, we readers become aware of much larger problems afoot in other parts of the country, of major game players pulling strings, trying to direct plans from Mexico, across the United States. There seems to be a large syndicate involved in drugs of all types, money laundering, and art theft. All of this is being unfolded through a separate narrative thread from Charlie鈥檚 This two pronged narrative continues throughout the novel.
Where these growing and ultimately converging threads may meet is the exciting action of The Children of Eve. It鈥檚 a different structure from any other Parker novel I鈥檝e read previously, though I haven鈥檛 read them all, and I really enjoyed it. The energy level is high throughout: Parker continues with his work in Maine, where his initial problem grows worse, of course, but such details will be avoided here. In another interesting step, both of his daughters, Jennifer (spirit) and Sam, now about to graduate high school, participate in this story. I鈥檓 excited to see where they may be seen next.
4.5*
Thank you to Atria/Emily Bestler Books and NetGalley for an eARC of this book. This review is my own....more
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