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Ordinary writing, ordinary plot. Just like a thousand other books published every year.

Lydia, a Virginia high society lady with old world money, has always behaved the way her parents expected her to act. She even gets engaged to a fellow blue-blood because his aristocratic bloodlines would satisfy her family. On vacation in Myrtle Beach, she meets Danny Crane, a middle class fellow from a backwater town. Shockingly, Lydia falls in love with Danny. She gives up everything she knows (including her family) in order to marry Danny and moves to his hometown of Fawley, Virginia. To Lydia, the town feels like it was trapped in a 1950's time warp. ..... At first Lydia is a town watcher, observing the undercurrents bubbling below the surface and the secrets that are part of the Crane legacy. Though Lydia seems to be a peacock amidst a flock of sparrows, she does not mind being different because she is secure both in the love of her spouse and her belief that she is fulfilling her destiny. However, when events of the past begin to affect Danny's behavior in the present, Lydia begins to look closer at the townsfolk, especially her husband's sociopathic cousin. Once she understands the hold that Cousin Kyle has on Danny and, therefore, on her, she knows she must reevaluate her marriage and how much she can afford to give up in the name of love. ...... CLOSE TO HOME is an insightful look into the choices people make and how far they are willing to go to protect a family member. Ultimately, the novel boils down to choosing between bloodlines or marital ties. Barbara Hall has written an absorbing book, one that entertains even as it provokes its audience into questioning some uncomfortable moral issues. The gothic like atmosphere that engulfs the town adds a colorful dimension to this compelling tale and turns it into a rewarding and enriching experience. Fans of Anne River Seddons and Belva Plain will want to read this novel as soon as it hits the stores. .....Harriet Klausner

The book is about a romantic marriage in which one spouse thinks he is marrying above himself, and the other worries she is marrying below herself. Four of the characters are narrators, the married couple, his mother and a spinster cousin. The mother imagines discussing her problems with people like Oprah and Joyce Brothers, and very different versions of their answers. The book has a good plot line, humour, interesting people, both the primary and secondary characters, and does an enjoyable job with small town life. Most of all, the book explores its main theme with honesty, and even subtlety and depth, without ever losing its light touch. Both spouses are in fact good enough for each other. This is a very enjoyable book. For me, it suffers a little from a pat ending.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable book, with a lyrical writing style & subtle plot development. Events that would not otherwise be compelling are, under the author's deft touch. However, the character lines differentiating the big city sophisticate from the little town hicks were just a little too pat, with an overreliance on tired small -town-inhabitant stereotyping. The author was the most successful at demonstrating Danny's complexity of character, despite his relatively banal existence, and nicely outlined the starkness of historical events that can underlie a "simple country upbringing". However, there were many (omitted) parts of this story, tantalizing glimpses of happenings about which I would have loved to read. How did Lydia break her engagement and part from her family? What was Rex really all about? What happened in the year after Lydia left? The author's treatment of other delicious family conflicts left me interested in how she would have treated the ones she left out.

The racism angle was not terribly believable as it was written, either, with the exception of a hearbreaking encounter between Kyle and some unemployed black men. Small town racism is much more ingrained, and less superficial than illustrated here. Inhabitants of this type of environment, even the kindest old grannies, use the n-word as unselfconsciously as if they were speaking of their favorite cornbread recipe. It is horrifying, depressing, and at the same time unremarkable. Unquestioning acceptance of virulent racism by regular people is far more compelling and real than is having those characters be so "bad" in other ways that their racism is expected, and therefore almost excused. It's just one more feature of their already repellent personalities, right? This is almost a cop-out, as if the author felt compelled to show that the person was bad in other ways than their racism.

Still, in total the story was difficult to put down, and the characters stay with you long after you finish it. I hope to read more of this author's books.