Reviews for Life without summer
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Left with a stirring last vision of four-year-old daughter Abby, backpack slung over her shoulder so wide her little head of curls stuck up like a turtle's out of its shell, magazine writer Tessa experiences near-paralysis caused by shock and grief in the days noted in her journal following the hit-and-run that claimed Abby. The bereaved mother starts counseling with Celia, a therapist Tessa first sees as so stiff and icy she finds herself questioning whether or not she can, or even wants to, be helped by one whose responses seem rote. Interspersed with Tessa's journal entries and entwining the women's lives in this stirringly believable epistolary novel are Celia's own intimate journal entries revealing startling challenges. Winter passes, leading at last to new hope and life as Abby's killer is surprisingly revealed and the two women, sharing an unending connection, bond in an unexpected way. Griffin's strong addition to women's fiction should be in demand.--Scott, Whitney Copyright 2009 Booklist
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Parenting and child-development consultant Griffin's debut interweaves the stories of a therapist and her client, a woman whose daughter is killed by a hit-and-run driver. In a small Massachusetts coastal town, four-year-old Abby is struck down in the street outside her preschool. Her mother Tessa, frustrated by the sluggishness and apparent callousness of homicide detective Caulfield, embarks on her own investigation into the identity of Abby's killer, compiling from public records a list of likely suspects among drunk-driving offenders. Meanwhile, Tessa's grief counselor, Celia, seems to know more than she's letting on about the horror of losing a child. Caulfield misplaces paint chips found at the accident scene, and his career ends in a corruption scandal. Tessa and husband Ethan hire an attorney to watchdog further police efforts. Celia has her own family fissures. Her new husband, history professor Alden, is intellectually and socially far removed from her ex, Harry, who works in a boatyard. Ever since a traumatic discovery made on his and Celia's beloved sailboat, Harry has struggled with alcoholism and usually lost; his license was suspended after a second DUI conviction. Celia and Harry's 15-year-old son Ian is a lightning rod in the culture clash between scruffy but lovable Harry and cerebral, supercilious Alden. (Celia herself finds childless Alden's step-parenting efforts lame and halfhearted.) Almost catatonically depressed, his schoolwork suffering, Ian abruptly departs Celia's orderly home for Harry's chaotic one. Harry's name is on Tessa's suspect list, but she has no idea he is Celia's former husband. As Tessa hones in on the circumstances surrounding Abby's death, the suspense mounts briskly, despite awkward, at times clichd prose. Tessa and Celia's first-person voices, conveyed via journal entries, are indistinguishable. Worse, Celia's journal is a less-than-skillful authorial artifice, allowing the author to withhold critical information until the book's climax. Griffin's fiction-writing skills have some catching up to do with her professional expertise. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Publishers Weekly
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Griffin's fiction debut is a spellbinding tale of loss and hard-won redemption. When Tessa Gray's four-year-old daughter, Abby, is killed by a hit and run driver, there are no witnesses. From first meeting, Tessa distrusts the detective assigned to the case and, with her journalism background and ties to newspapers in nearby Boston, she begins to dig for her own answers to the identity of Abby's killer. Meanwhile, she vents her grief with Celia, a compassionate but reserved therapist. Celia's story, with its tragic undertones, unfolds parallel to Tessa's: Celia has a second marriage, a secretive teenage son and an ex-husband who makes her current family circle impossibly tense. At the office, Celia is practical and pulled together, but her home life buzzes with strife. Outside therapy, Celia's and Tessa's narratives remain separate until they shockingly intersect and lead the way to hard-won healing for both. Griffin's carefully crafted characters ring heartbreakingly true and her finely wrought plot will snare readers from the first page. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
