Mira De Land inherits her childhood home -- a house named Lila on Ona Island, North Carolina. The catch is that she must move it to her family's current home in Arkansas. Moving Lila forces Mira and her much younger sister, Kat, to unearth long-buried family secrets as their own relationship changes. Ultimately, they reconcile the family's past and present by realizing that each one is guilty of something, which has the paradoxical effect of absolving them all.
Moving Lila: A Novel
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The relationships among three siblings are tested, twisted and transformed when their dying father makes an unusual last request. Fleming's debut opens with protagonist Mira DeLand, 28, her older brother, Kearney, and teenage sister, Kat, coping with the proposed terms of their father's will. Mira is shocked to learn that she is to inherit Lila, her childhood home in Ona Island, N.C., but that upon their father's death, she must move the structure to where the family now resides in Mims, Ark. Kat, who was born after the family abandoned the Ona Island residence, doesn't know that Lila is a graveyard of family secrets that everyone has conspired to keep from her. Fleming sets up a provocative dilemma when Kat insists on accompanying Mira on the mission of moving the house, not only because Mira must keep her sister from discovering the key factor of their mother's indiscretion, but also by introducing secondary characters--the workers hired to move the house--who ratchet up the sibling rivalry between the sisters. The trip serves as a catalyst for Mira and Kat to reveal their own secrets, with the intriguing irony that while Mira desperately tries to hide their mother's past, she discovers that their father concealed some significant events, as well. Fleming's minimalist style occasionally downplays the emotionally charged possibilities the plot might inspire, failing to exploit opportunities when the story is poised for redemptive moments: When Kat says, "So we're moving a house named for either Dad's close friend or his mistress?" Mira simply responds, "I guess we are." Though the author elsewhere deftly maneuvers the humorous angles of her characters' predicaments, for the most part the DeLands respond blandly, and are kept, inexplicably, at arm's length from the reader even as they face their most intense confrontations and epiphanies. (Mar.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Growth is this first novel's theme as the last wish of a dying father is carried out. Wesley DeLand asks Mira, his thirtysomething daughter, to move Lila, her childhood home and the house he designed and built, from North Carolina to Arkansas, where the family now resides. The road trip, which includes the discovery of family secrets, is emotionally difficult for Mira and her 16-year-old half-sister, Kat. Accurately describing in elegant prose the grimness of losing a father, the grief before and after the death, and the initial awkwardness of sibling relationships without parents, Fleming takes readers on an emotional journey and leaves them on new ground--just like Lila. Recommended for all public libraries.
-Jeanette Somers, Birmingham, AL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
-Jeanette Somers, Birmingham, AL
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lila rules,
By Andy Plattner (Athens, Ga.) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Moving Lila: A Novel (Hardcover)
I guess the true power of this novel lies in its ability to be interesting on every single page. A rare feat. The writer treats her characters tenderly and with compassion, and though perhaps not its main design, Moving Lila leaves a reader with the feeling they've just taken a life-affirming ride through the Deep South. Here's to Lila getting the attention she deserves.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Moving...,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Moving Lila: A Novel (Hardcover)
This novel had me intrigued at page one. The entire concept of moving a house, moving a memory, moving a life resonated throughout the novel. It is a journey, one that the reader feels a part of, one that the reader cares about. Mira, Kat, Ray, Wesley, all visable characters. And the house, it has a life of its own, filled with happy and sorrowful memories. Fleming shows that houses are not just objects, but homes, for good or bad, they are homes. A great read.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just a house, it's a home,
By Barbara "Queen of her castle AND her home lib... (beautiful Charleston, SC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Moving Lila: A Novel (Hardcover)
A very fun story. There are a lot of memories here that are shared and there's even a little bit of information that some of the family members try not to share. What a unique story.....moving a house because of a last request from a father who has passed away. Truely a fun, quick, unique read. Read this book, it's intriguing as well as fun and will give you a lift.
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