Customer Reviews

Facing the Light

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I usually feel compelled to read until I drop but it definitely didn't happen this time around with Geras' book.
I loved her book "Hester" so I felt like getting this novel but it didn't cut it for me.
It's slow, monotonous, and utterly simple. The book's appeal is partly in the twisting storyline and partly in the shameless escapism of the milieu . . . constant sunshine, a beautiful house and garden, enviable clothes and delicious food served at every opportunity but there was no gripping character to save the day.
It's just a book to pass the time if you get stuck in the airport for 8 hours or so.
Not splendid, just average.

I bought this book because the jacket said, "if you like Binchy..you will love this book." This book is painful to read. For example, half of the characters have ridiculous nicknames that need to be explained. Even the CATS have nicknames that the author feels compelled to explain. Who cares?!

Characters you don't care about, inane dialogue, cumbersome story line--it's all there if you'd like to make yourself miserable for a few hours.

Her two daughters, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren are arriving at Willow Court to celebrate the seventy-fifth birthday of the family matriarch Leonora Simmonds. While her kin pays homage to her, TV film director Sean Everard is doing a special on Leonora's father, renowned Edwardian painter Edwin Walsh.

As undercurrents swirl amidst the gathering family, Leonora dreams of being eight years old back in 1935 when she was sick with the measles and her mother died. Her dream is different than her memories. Soon other events as she remembers them begin to unravel and a dark secret surfaces that if revealed will change a family basking in legendary fame to one hiding in shame.

This engaging family drama uses a cast that would please De Mille, but author Adele Geras gifts each key player with a distinct personality that remains consistent throughout. Though the pace is quite leisurely, the story line hooks the audience from the moment that Rilla knows she is coming home to see her mom and her sister. The plot never lets go until the final revelations about the past and present emerge leaving the extended Simmonds brood and the audience in shock.

Harriet Klausner