Redemption [Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Nancy Geary (Author), Vivienne Benesch (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2003

Hope Lawrence seems to have everything that a young woman could want. The beloved daughter of wealthy parents, her childhood was spent on the idyllic shores of Massachusetts's East Coast. And now she is about to marry Jack Cabot, her handsome sweetheart. But life is rarely as simple or as carefree as it seems. The day of Hope's wedding will be remembered by everyone in Manchester-by-the-Sea, but not in the way that it should have been. When Father Whitney steps forward to address the glittering congregation, his words could hardly be more unexpected and shocking. For Hope's body has been discovered in her bedroom - she has hung herself. In the following days, Hope's family struggles to come to terms with her suicide. But Frances Pratt, Hope's cousin and childhood friend, is less than convinced that Hope took her own life, and begins to probe beneath the surface of her seemingly flawless world...

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When Frances Pratt, formerly of the Suffolk County (New York) DA's office, returns for her cousin's wedding to the tony Massachusetts town where she spent childhood summers, she expects a somewhat stuffy weekend-but then Hope Lawrence, the beautiful, bulimic and troubled bride, doesn't show up at the altar. Frances, who's now the president of the Long Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence, finds Hope hanging from a light fixture, an apparent suicide. Frances isn't convinced, however, so she teams up with the good-natured but tough cop Elvis Mallory to find out the truth. There are suspects aplenty: Hope's jealous half-sister, her violent ex-boyfriend (with whom Hope was still intimate) and her fiance's snooty parents, who opposed the marriage. Meanwhile, Hope's own parents harbor a long-buried secret, and the local minister, who was Hope's confidante, has mysterious connections to events as well. The story is a familiar one, competently if not elegantly told through multiple viewpoints. In her second gumshoe outing (after 2001's Misfortune), Frances once again plays the career woman exposing the dirty secrets of the moneyed classes, but Geary's evocations of buttoned-up privilege ("We're WASPs, remember? We don't talk about problems") fails to go beyond glancing and superficial. Fanny's affair with her sweet, potato-farming next-door neighbor offers a break from all the whodunit speculation, but these interludes are few and far between. Poor Hope may be the most interesting character here, in part for her troubles and in part for her necessary silence, which lends her a kind of dignity that many of the other characters lack.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"'A brilliant tale of privilege and pain, betrayal and murder... Entertainment of the highest order' Linda Fairstein" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Chivers Sound Library; Unabridged edition (July 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0792729455
• ISBN-13: 978-0792729457
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 6.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,990,281 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful story full of complex characters, July 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Redemption (Hardcover)

I read Nancy Geary's first novel (*Misfortune*) after friends from the Hamptons (Long Island, where it's set) told me about it. It was great and I've been waiting for this one. *Redemption* is even better, with a clever story, a whodunnit, evocative descriptions of another romantic location, and more of the complex characters Geary creates so well -- children of privilege who are damaged and attractive at the same time.

I REALLY loved it, stayed up late to get the answer, and recommend it as a fun-to-read page turner with characters you'll remember for a long time. Five stars!!!!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Geary is gripping, October 30, 2003

By 

wayne glimcher (santa fe, NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Redemption (Hardcover)

Dont want to spoil the mystery but detective Frances is back better than ever and Geary's writing is gripping and, as before with her last book Misfortune, completely accurate about a social group and a family gone amuck. Hard to put down, the story weaves a tale of horror that does not resort to the typical grizzly of some murder stories but rather relies on the complexities of human psychology. GREAT read, should be made into a movie.Miramax, check it out

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars redemption, August 28, 2003

By 

andrea dorrian (queens, new york) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Redemption (Hardcover)

i loved the second of nancy geary's books. it was even better than the first, misfortune. i read the book in a long weekend as i could not put it down. you feel for frances. death is sad but to have 2 people you know murdered in your lifetime is beyond what most of us could comprehend. memories we all have as a child are not all they seemed to be when you look back or, when you try to go back as an adult. all of us have had a happy memory smashed just like frances. the details in the book about the murder scene and suspects could only come from someone who has once worked in a profession that has dealt with the darker side of life. i loved redemption and canot wait for the third of nancy geary's books. thank you nancy geary for a wonderful book.