The Price of Guilt [Hardcover]

Margaret Yorke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 9, 2000

Louise Widdows has been trapped inside an unhappy marriage for decades, struggling to find the strength to leave. Then, seriously injured in a hit-and-run accident, Louise returns home from a long stay in the hospital to find her husband suddenly, and mysteriously, disappeared. So, late into middle age, Louise finds herself suddenly free to begin her life over--and to acknowledge the secret that has been haunting her for years: her son, born out of wedlock and given up at birth. But Louise's husband, Colin, has some secrets of his own, and she hasn't seen the end of him yet.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Soon after inheriting a house and starting a new life in the village of Croxbury, Louise Widdows reads an Anita Brookner novel: "in elegant, measured prose the soul of a sad, solitary woman was skillfully exposed." So might it be said of this genteel English suspense thriller, whose hapless heroine attempts to make the most of an unexpected legacy while murder lurks in the background. Louise's husband, Colin, may or may not have driven the car that almost kills her in a hit-and-run accident. At any rate, after a loveless marriage, she has no regrets when Colin disappears the day of the accident with the contents of their joint savings account. Louise's thoughts turn to a long-ago affair, and to the illegitimate child that she had to give up at birth for adoption. Now that she's free of Colin, might she try to trace her lost son, who would be about the age of the kindly reporter who rescues her from beer-swilling yobs on the train to her new home? A fate full of irony awaits Louise in Croxbury, where a good deed--checking on an acquaintance's house while the woman is away--doesn't go unpunished. Like Brookner, Yorke is a master at making the reader care about meek and lonely middle-aged women. While the latter part of the novel largely fills in the motivations of minor characters in flashback, Colin's fate remains up in the air until the very end--and is as ironic as Louise's, if more just. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Louise Widdows's mentally abusive husband disappears the same night she suffers injuries in a hit-and-run accident. About the same time, Louise learns she has inherited a cottage, so she moves, hoping to start anew and perhaps locate the son she gave up for adoption 30-odd years earlier. Meanwhile, a magazine reporter she encounters senses a story of some sort and, while investigating the murder of a woman who died near the time of the hit-and-run, tries to discover Louise's whereabouts. Ferreting out psychological motivations and relating them to a deceptively simple plot is Yorke's forte. Highly recommended.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (March 9, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031225332X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312253325
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,094,514 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For those who like British mysterys, March 14, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Price of Guilt (Hardcover)

Louise Widdows wonders if she is lucky to be alive having survived a hit and run murder attempt to kill her. The driver of the vehicle mounted the sidewalk to deliberately hit her. Besides fear,

Louise is an incredible leadcharacter. Reading Louise's tale, which is ninety-five per cent of the plot makes award winning Margaret Yorke's latest entry worth the time and money because she is one of the greatest characters to grace a novel over the past few years.

Harriet Klausner