Right from Wrong: A Novel [Hardcover]

Cindy Bonner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1999

This is the fouth of Cindy Bonner's deliciously romantic historic novels. And once again she perfectly captures the spirit of another time. Here are Texas farm families swept up in the drama of World War I and the devastation of their young men who fought it. Again, Bonner's vivid characters grab us by the lapels on page one.

Almost from the day she was born - in 1901 in McDade, Texas - Sunny Delony adored her first cousin, Gil. Their mothers are sisters and raised their children as if they were siblings, with all the teasing, wrestling, and running wild.

Sunny can't say exactly when their puppy love turned into the full-blown grown-up kind, but before she was fifteen - and Gil seventeen - she knew something had changed. Her mother and aunt knew it, too. They wasted no time preaching right from wrong and describing the consequences of what they deemed "incest."

Taking those warnings to heart, Gil volunteered for the army. While he was fighting France, Sunny married a local boy, only the first in a string of mistakes that lead to broken hearts, broken marriages, lost lives, family condemnation, financial ruin, exile. Ultimately, their passion caused them to flee for their lives and those of their children. But somehow, wrong always felt right to Sunny and Gil.

Right from Wrong is a beautiful - and wrenching - love story.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

We're back in the town of McDade, Tex., for another installment in the family saga that Bonner began with Lily, but that turf may be drying up. This serpentine tale begins breathlessly, when 12-year-old Sunny Deloney's mama walks out on her husband, Dade (she later accepts his blandishments and returns), and goes to stay with Aunt Prudie. There Sunny reconnects with her 14-year-old first cousin Gil Dailey, and they seal their fate with a forbidden kiss. The balance of the novel covers the next 13 years, from 1913 to 1926, with sexually charged encounters between the cousins dotting some otherwise uninspired prose. Sunny marries an alcoholic, abusive husband; Gil goes off to war in Europe. Each tries to forget the other in the arms of various people they don't love; finally, they run off together. Although most of the narrative shifts between Sunny's and Gil's third-person perspectives, the final chapters are Sunny's first-person account of events. This shuttling back and forth results in a sacrifice of the careful structuring of previous novels in the series, and readers may also miss the colorful Texas dialect of the earlier books, which seems muted here. Bonner also skimps on establishing a sense of place, evoked in the first chapter but scanted later. The narrative often stretches readers' credulity as the lovers sacrifice family, income and health to continue their incestuous love. Sentimental fans will probably stay glued, however, through a sufficiency of melodramatic plot twists that accentuate the pathos of the doomed love affair. Author tour.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Born near the turn of the century, cousins Sunny DeLony and Gill Dailey were good friends as youngsters and something closer as they became teens. But admonitions from their mothers of sin and incest could keep them apart only so long. In her fourth novel of the DeLony family of McDade, TX, Bonner (The Passion of Dellie O'Barr, LJ 1/96) takes on the next generation, featuring Sunny (the beloved daughter of Dane DeLony), her first cousin on her mother's side, and their love that wouldn't die. Not that the course of this love runs smooth: when Gil serves in France during World War I, Sunny marries and has a child, whose tragic death seems to split the couple irrevocably; later marriages seem destined to keep them forever apart. Happiness and tragedy alternate here as in life itself, and Bonner tells stories so straightforward and true that the reader is soon immersed. A treat for fans of the McDade cycle, this should win Bonner new readers as well.?Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1st edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156512104X
• ISBN-13: 978-1565121041
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #786,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Corpus Christi, Texas, Cindy Bonner now calls the mountains of northern New Mexico home. In addition to four award-winning historical novels published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, she is the author of numerous short stories, essays, and book reviews. The mother of two grown sons and the daughter of a World War II veteran who is still alive and kicking at age 87, Cindy has a dog and a significant other. An avid watcher of birds, the weather, and the political goings-on in Washington, D.C., she claims to be a bottomless well of spotty information on history and the meaning of life.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accurate portrayal of a very real issue!, March 27, 2001

By 

"cnme" (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Right from Wrong: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is NOT your typical "romance". This is not sentimental fluff without substance. It will make you laugh and leave you crying.

Gil and Sunny's love for each other is one which is often viewed as scandalous, taboo, and yet absolutely beautiful and heart wrenching... They are first cousins.

This is certainly nothing new. Cousin romances have existed since the beginning of time, and are not all that uncommon, even in today's world. However, the subject is one that few authors have the courage to write about. Cindy Bonner handles a difficult subject with grace, compassion, sensitivity, and realism.

Set in the early 1900's, Sunny and Gil face tremendous prejudices against them. Yet love is something that can not be denied, and is worth sacrificing everything for. The couple overcomes every obstacle imaginable, and their love endures through the best and worst of circumstances.

Never has a story touched my heart like this one, and never has one echoed the thousands of voices of cousins who find themselves in similar situations so clearly.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Truly Original Book!, February 24, 2000

By 

Kylie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Right from Wrong: A Novel (Hardcover)

I thought that this book was incredibly well written, and very original. I picked it up in the library never having heard of the author, and I didn't put it down until I finished the entire book in one day. In a day where it is hard to find something new and fresh, this book meets those expectations. I highly reccomend this book, and it's author to anyone looking for a fresh mind!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A love story with true grit., June 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Right from Wrong: A Novel (Hardcover)

Who hasn't had a crush on a cousin? When you're young, all you know is how you feel, and Sunny and Gil felt a love stronger than all the taboos against it. Author Cindy Bonner weaves us into the story of two lives powerless against desire but haunted by its consequences...some of which are almost too heart-rending to bear. This is a wonderful story, wonderfully told in a true Texas voice--not one of those cream-puff romances.