Blessing in Disguise [Hardcover]

Eileen Goudge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1994

Goudge transcends her blockbuster bestsellers Garden of Lies and Such Devoted Sisters with a rich and moving tale of a family torn by conflict and bound by a love that is put to the ultimate test. Blessing in Disguise tells of a daughter and her father's shocking secret . . . and a mother who would risk anything to protect it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestselling author Goudge ( Garden of Lies ) should hit the charts again with her tale of second loves and the emotional interbraiding of two complex family trees. Though the narrative does not sustain the compulsively readable jolt of its beginning chapters, it remains enjoyable even when the pace slows somewhat. New York City journalist Grace Truscott is hard at work on a biography of her famous father, a Southern Democratic senator and civil rights advocate. Her steel magnolia mother, Cordelia, now raising money for a memorial library for her late husband, is furious because Grace plans to spill the secret about Senator Truscott's role in the death of his black secretary Margaret's husband, a bitter pill that becomes more acrid after Grace learns that a long love affair between her father and Margaret produced a daughter. Other domestic squabbles fan the fires: Grace and her inamorato Jack, an editor, quarrel about their age difference, while sullen teens from their first marriages try to end their liaison and Jack's viperish older son plots against him at work; Cordelia struggles with her feelings for a younger man, a former teacher who is now her gardener. Goudge excels at capturing excruciating family dynamics, adolescent tantrums and emotions that cruise below the surface. Cliched descriptions--everyone is gorgeous and talented--and an overriding need to link characters with contrived plot twists do a disservice to an otherwise thumping good read. Paperback rights to Signet; BOMC dual main selection; 150,000 first printing; $150,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Grace Truscott's shocking revelations in her biography of her Southern senator father rock her family and, indeed, Georgia to its very foundations. The truth about his affair with his black secretary and the existence of their daughter jolts the community, derailing Cordelia Truscott's efforts to raise money for her husband's memorial library. Evidently, racism is alive and well in Blessing, Georgia; pillars of the community struggle to come to grips with the difference between reality and social rhetoric, and both Grace and her mother are forced to decide between true love and social conventions. In the tradition of the South's strongest popular fiction, Goudge (Such Devoted Sisters, Viking, 1992) has crafted a poignant and bittersweet story of love and enduring family truths. Readers of Anne Rivers Siddons and Rosamond Pilcher will not be able to put it down. Highly recommended.
--Susan Clifford, Hughes Aircraft Co. Lib., Los Angeles
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670849618
• ISBN-13: 978-0670849611
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,849,996 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born on the Fourth of July, and it's been fireworks ever since. I began writing at age eight, with short stories and poems, and I haven't looked back since. From the early days of mostly collecting rejection slips, I went on to publish thirty-two novels for young adults, thirteen (and still counting) of women's fiction, as well as numerous short stories and magazine articles, and one cookbook.

Often I'm asked where I get my ideas. Fortunately, I have a wealth of life experiences to draw from. Starting when I dropped out of college to get married, at age eighteen. Two years later I was divorced, with a baby son and no means of support. I ended up briefly on welfare, and stood in line for government surplus food. But every cloud has its silver lining, and this one led to my determination to make it as a professional writer. I borrowed a typewriter, and lacking a desk, plunked it down on the living room floor. The rest, as they say, is history.

Following a string of young adult novels, I published my first adult novel, GARDEN OF LIES, in 1986. The saga of baby girls switched at birth---one rich, the other poor---went on to enjoy a combined total of 16 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, in hardcover and paperback. Though there's no such thing as an overnight success, I felt like one, having gone in a matter of months from not knowing how I was going to pay the rent to wondering what I was going to do with all that money. The first thing I did was fulfill a fantasy born of years of wearing hand-me-downs: I walked into Saks Fifth Avenue and bought a dress...without even looking at the price tag!

I've since gone on to write many more novels. My most recent, which came out in June of '07, is WOMAN IN RED, a very special story about a woman just out of prison and a man struggling to get back on his feet after losing his wife on 9/11. Look for it in trade paperback in May of this year. I also have another hardcover coming out,in June, titled DOMESTIC AFFAIRS ---a Cinderalla story in reverse: Riches to rags but with a happy ending. I'll be posting sample chapters on my website at www.eileengoudge.com, so stay tuned. I would love to hear your comments once you've read the book! And, remember, there's always more where that came from...

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, Not Great, December 11, 2002

By 

Martha E. Nelson (Watertown, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Blessing in Disguise (Paperback)

This was my first Eileen Goudge book, and I think the general premise and story is pretty good. I also liked most of the main characters, but I also got frustrated with the repetition and indecisiveness of those characters. I believe this could have been an equally good, or better, book and been two-thirds as long. (I do hestitate to say something like that because I have great respect for writers' autonomy and integrity.)

Eileen Goudge is particularly good at descriptions--her house and garden descriptions here are wonderful. Her character development of Cordelia Truscott is also excellent. Cordelia is ultimately the strongest and bravest character in this book, and it is fitting that it ends with her.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book was not the best, September 19, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Blessing in Disguise (Paperback)

I have read other Eileen Goudge books and this was not her best work. The story was good but it read too much like a Danielle Steele novel It kept reitterating the same things over and over again...I had to struggle to finish it because I was like "alright already, somebody do something!" Oh well

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Decent and Easy read. A good Beach book, January 12, 2004

By 

Erin D. Miller (NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Blessing in Disguise (Paperback)

Blessing in Disguise is more like a blessing to an over worked mind that needs a bit of mind candy. The character of Grace Truscott, the intelligent and privileged daughter of a former senator, undertakes the task of writing her idolized father's biography. However, after only the first draft, a myriad of difficulties surface. To start, after crossing each of the many bridges on her journey, she finds she is writing a biography about a man she hardly knows. A man that lived a life very different than the one his daughter had imagined. Although these many complexities initially draw the reader in, they become an annoyance after a while, especially the complexities that take place in Grace Truscott's personal life. For one, I find it hard to believe the author, who at first introduced Grace as a strong and determined woman would bring her to points of desperation with the man she loves. The passion is not what I am knocking, but I could do without her insatiable desire to marry her lover Jack. I should add however, that while this bothered me, it in no way bothered me as much as many of the other characters, namely Jack's son Ben, and Grace's selfish and social conscious sister, Sissy. It should be said however, that one of the truths Grace finds when researching the bio leads her to the discovery of Nola, her half sister. The story itself was heartwarming, but little else. At times it is a wonder that Grace's biography ever gets finished and her personal problems ever get resolved. Nevertheless, Blessing in Disguise has a typically "happy ending".