From Publishers Weekly
Shea returns for the third time to the small-town Massachusetts she captured so well in Selling the Lite of Heaven and Hoopi Shoopi Donna for this sentimental yet satisfying tale of dreams realized in peculiar ways. When she was 10, Lily Wilk pulled an art kit out of a grab bag and knew she had found her "true occupation." Twenty-nine years later, Lily is making her living as an artist, though not in the way she once imagined. Kept busy by myriad mundane tasks, she draws children's caricatures at parties, paints signs for rest rooms and fire hydrants and occasionally exhibits her real art work at the post office and local festivals. Still, she remains certain that she is destined for greater things. One day, opportunity knocks in the form of Mary Ziemba, owner of a supermarket chain and the richest woman in town, who commissions Lily to paint a portrait of her family, one that will depict each member "at whatever was the best point in their lives." As the project unfolds, LilyAwhose own immediate family, ex-husband and stepson have recently scattered across the globeAreflects more and more on the true nature of human relations. Shea lovingly renders Lily's family and friendsAamong them, a coupon-addicted uncle and his girlfriend, whose hobby is writing to the survivors of famous dead peopleAwith the same affectionate brushstrokes she employs to describe her protagonist's beloved art. By the time it becomes clear to Lily that family is as much created as it is inherited, readers may well count themselves lucky to have gained vicarious admission to her colorful circle. Agent, John Talbot. Author tour; reading group guide. (Aug.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Lily Wilk, about to turn 40, is still struggling to use her artistic talent to make a living in the small Massachusetts town where she grew up. Lily spends her time decorating fire hydrants, creating pictures to sell at local art fairs, decorating a bride's ten fake fingernails with the story of the couple's romance, and adorning a shoreside restaurant's bathroom with doors marked "gulls" and "buoys." Then the richest woman in town, Mary Ziemba, shows Lily a series of photographs of her family at their happiest and commissions Lily to paint a portrait of them. In the process of planning and painting the picture, Lily thinks about her own family: her loving parents, who hit the jackpot at a Connecticut casino and moved to Florida; her restless sister, who doesn't want to have anything to do with the rest of the Wilk clan; her brother, Chuckie, who died too young; and especially her husband, Jack, who left Lily to return to his first wife, taking Lily's beloved stepson, Little Ted, with him. But when Lily learns the truth about Mary's family (obvious to the reader long before Lily), she realizes that sometimes families are made, not born. Shea's (Hoopi Shoopi Donna) third novel is sweet but ultimately disappointing.ANancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
