The Key to Susanna: 9 [Hardcover]

Hilary Norman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 1996

Susanna, a successful model and photographer's wife, lives a contented and fulfilling life, until a shadowy figure from her past resurfaces and threatens to blackmail her in an attempt to resurrect the despair, torment, abuse, and abandonment of her old life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When the high-fashion photographer known as Hawke tests HIV positive, it comes to light that he neglected to inform his wife, the model Susanna, that he'd enjoyed a premarital homosexual relationship?and that his partner had died of AIDS. But this doozie of a secret isn't the biggest one being kept within Norman's quirky and pedestrian, yet overblown, seventh novel (after Laura). Told mostly through flashbacks, and partly through the journals of Pete Strauss, the psychologist who finds himself in love with Susanna, the story writhes from New York to Cape Cod to Europe, chronicling Susanna's early years in a convent, her upbringing with a foster family and her courtship with Hawke, while detailing her present-day trials of operating a home for AIDS patients. There is way too much going on here, with child molestation, blackmail, rape, kidnapping and religious devotion run amok filling the pages; meanwhile, most readers will guess one of Susanna's biggest secrets long before its revelation. The narrative is of some sociological interest for its depiction of the stigmatization of AIDS victims a mere decade ago, particularly in the fashion industry. It raises important questions as well: Does avowed love mean that all is forgiven? Is there a justifiable gap between public and private rules? But they are obscured by a maudlin approach and by Norman's playing to the gallery.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The beautiful facade of model Susanna covers a childhood of degradation that she has chosen to lock away in her mind. After the sudden AIDS-related illness and subsequent death of her photographer husband, Susanna realizes her perfect life is crumbling, and confronting the past seems the only way to maintain her sanity. Then Peter, a young psychologist who treated her husband, reaches out to her, and their friendship begins to lay the foundations for her future. But Susanna's past returns to claim her before she is ready as a blackmailer threatens her loved ones with dark secrets and cunning lies. The key to Susanna lies in her past, and someone else is holding that key. This well-crafted story embraces the joys and sorrows faced by people with or affected by AIDS and touches on the trauma of childhood abuse. Norman has been compared to Anne Rivers Siddons and Eileen Goudge and will attract the same readership. Melanie Duncan

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult (May 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525940421
• ISBN-13: 978-0525940425
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #9,529,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars incredible but nevertheless entertaining, January 9, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Key to Susanna (Paperback)

I had made note of a May 1996 Chicago Tribune review that had summarized "The Key to Susanna" as 'part thirller, part psychological character study'. This book served as my entertainment in the Lincoln, Nebraska airport awaiting Chicago weather to clear to allow for takeoff. I was engrossed enough in the psychotherapy angle to miss the first announcement of flight delay. However, about half way through the book I found myself examining the cover art and reading the reviews of Norman's other novels and realized that I had been tricked into reading a contemporary romance! The joke was on me, though, as I was taken in by every unbelievable plot permutation. I was as interested as Peter Strauss, the therapist, in finding the key to Susanna, regardless of the incredulousness of her story. If 'part thriller, part psychological character study' catches your novel mind's eye, give this novel a chance.