Mirrors [Paperback]

Marianne K. Martin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2001

Attorney Shayna Bradley`s life is under control. And that is just the way she wants it. A successful law practice and an attractive girlfriend fill her time until her best friend suddenly leaves her husband . . .Jean Carson is passionate about her work but not her husband. She has spent her life helping her students and short-changing herself. Finally, Jean finds the strength to leave her marriage but will she find the courage to follow her heart?

Editorial Reviews

Review

...a great story of women's struggles with discovery, love, and career. -- Kelly Peters, Between the Lines

Mirrors is a very fine novel, well worth your time and treasure. -- Deborah Peifer, The Bay Area Reporter

From the Publisher

Marianne K. Martin is the author of the best-selling novels Legacy Of Love, Love In The Balance, Dawn Of The Dance, and Never Ending all published by Naiad Press. Among her varied careers, Martin has been a public school teacher, a photojournalist, an MHSAA basketball coach, a collegiate hockey coach, and a photographer. She has been active in athletics since childhood and has played and coached ASA fast-pitch softball for many years. Her other hobbies include building and remodeling, drawing, landscaping, and of course reading. She currently resides in Michigan, with an eye on southern sun.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 220 pages
• Publisher: Bella Books (July 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931513023
• ISBN-13: 978-1931513029
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,127,019 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A graduate of Eastern Michigan University, Ms Martin taught in the Michigan public school system for twenty-five years, has worked as a journalist and professional photographer, and coached both high school and collegiate teams as well as amature ASA teams. Her coaching career produced many Tri-County and MHSAA championship softball and basketball teams, and championship ASA softball teams. She was the founder of the Michigan Women's Major Fastpitch Association and its president for ten years. In 1973 she won the precedent-setting case in a Michigan court establishing equal pay for women coaches.

Ms. Martin is co-owner of Bywater Books and currently splits her time between writing and publishing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Heartwarming Soulgasm.., September 16, 2001

By 

"lyric_tiger" (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mirrors (Paperback)

Marianne Martin's latest novel, "Mirrors", is the kind of literary prose that tenderly pulls at the strings of your heart and the deep recesses of your mind in regards to love, duty, and friendship. With her well-crafted ability to bring us into the very soul of her characters, Martin introduces us to Jean Carson; a special type of teacher that students look up to and who goes the extra mile to make a difference everyday in their lives. Jean's passion for her career and the stability of her life is upturned when she must face coming out after being in the comfort zone of a heterosexual marriage. Her struggle; a not so uncommon, yet life-altering one, is paralleled in the personal strife of a young, female student who is victimized from being seemingly different to her peers. Shayna Bradley is a confident, sharp lawyer with a sense of justice and a desire to help mothers and their children. Shayna is the kind of friend any woman would want in their back court, but when it comes to relationships work tends to run into over time and romance lingers on the sidelines. Despite this she is grounded in her loyalty to family and friends and drawn deeply to the needs of both. Intertwined by a cherished friendship and lined up together in the battle of conformity versus differentiation, Jean and Shayna must each view what is mirrored in the reflective pool of their hearts. Like soup, Ms Martin once again manages to warm the soul with a stirring, personal look at two women who share a similar consciousness. This is the type of good literature that delves deep, splinters and fragments into a thousand glass pieces for each reader to see a portion of themselves glimmering back from within its pages.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unexpected gift, October 3, 2001

By 

Candace (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mirrors (Paperback)

While reading MIRRORS, I found myself wondering; "Do I know these women? They could be my neighbors, my former teachers, the women at the next table in my favorite restaurant." The depth at which I got to know the characters made them as real as my own friends that I wish I could advise and console. And as with real friends, they followed their own sometimes surprising paths and drummed up courage I didn't know they had.
When I got this book as a gift, I wasn't thinking much past the generosity of the friend who gave it to me. After reading the book, though, I realized that the author also gave me a gift. That gift was the effort and painstaking attention to detail that Marianne Martin made in sharing these women with me. She put them in familiar territory and let me know that, often, my struggle with guilt, passion and courage is every woman's struggle. She reminded me that a rare, genuine friendship can survive the most uncertain and painful of situations, and that a soul mate will truly love you no matter how difficult you try to make it. We could all probably stand to be reminded of these things on occasion, and reading MIRRORS is by all accounts a great way to be reminded.

29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars coming out in the heartland, October 1, 2001

By 

M. J. Lowe "www.mjlowe.info" (Denver, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mirrors (Paperback)

Opening three years after the close of Dawn of the Dance, and set in a small city in Michigan, Mirrors focuses on secondary characters introduced in Dawn: high school teacher, Jean Carson and feminist attorney, Shayna Bradley. Mirrors is well written with realistic characters and depicts important, painful issues for gays and lesbians living in the more conservative regions of the country. Especially those with careers in public education. The novel opens with the new history teacher, Dan Sanders,being fired because the high school principal decided Sanders was gay. Sanders, we're told was not "obvious" nor had he behaved inappropriately to any of the students. Indeed he actually had students liking history. But teaching performance is not the issue. The principal doesn't want queers working for him. As in most of America there is no protection for gay teachers regarding discrimination in employment.

Jean is a thirty-something, physical education teacher. She has spent the last 12 years married to Ken and devoting her time and energy to her students. The latter has helped her avoid some realities about the former. Namely Ken's desire for children and Jean's reluctance for them. It turns out that Jean's avoidance of additional commitment to Ken is rooted in her ambivalence regarding her attractions toward women. This is especially true of her feelings for her best friend, Shayna. A relatively open lesbian attorney who specializes in assisting women in legal struggles, Shayna uses her work to avoid really committing to her girlfriend. Despite their years of perfecting defense mechanisms, neither woman is quite prepared for her feelings for the other. Feelings that grow as both disentangle themselves from dying romantic relationships.

Coming out is a process, not an event, and it's rarely easy. That's one of the themes of Mirrors. Indeed the book provides three reflections on coming out via Jean, Shayna and Lindy, a student at the high school where Jean teaches. Lindy has been struggling with her own sexuality and suffers the routinely harassing attention of several of the male jocks at the school. She will ultimately be attacked because her baby butch appearance threatens some of her classmates. It is Lindy's story that will force Jean to face her own closet, accept the gift of Shayna's love, and risk her job, in the hope of saving other young students.

Martin also provides a mirror for society to consider its role in protecting our young people from bigotry and hate (not to mention rearing them to express said hatred). Mirrors is not my favorite Martin novel; --I prefer her Clan of the Doe stories with Sage Bistro, et al.-- however it is a very good story that can not be told too often. Look into Mirrors, you will no doubt find yourself reflected there as well.