The Shadow of Your Smile [Hardcover]

Mary Higgins Clark (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2010

In The Shadow of Your Smile, worldwide bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark weaves a spellbinding thriller revolving around a long-held family secret that threatens to emerge and take the life of an unsuspecting heiress.

At age eighty-two and in failing health, Olivia Morrow knows she has little time left. The last of her line, she faces a momentous choice: expose a long-held family secret, or take it with her to her grave.

Olivia has in her possession letters from her deceased cousin Catherine, a nun, now being considered for beatification by the Catholic Church—the final step before sainthood. In her lifetime, Sister Catherine had founded seven hospitals for disabled children. Now the cure of a four-year-old boy dying of brain cancer is being attributed to her. After his case was pronounced medically hopeless, the boy’s desperate mother had organized a prayer crusade to Sister Catherine, leading to his miraculous recovery.

The letters Olivia holds are the evidence that Catherine gave birth at age seventeen to a child, a son, and gave him up for adoption. Olivia knows the identity of the young man who fathered Catherine’s child: Alex Gannon, who went on to become a world-famous doctor, scientist, and inventor holding medical patents.

Now, two generations later, thirty-one-year-old pediatrician Dr. Monica Farrell, Catherine’s granddaughter, stands as the rightful heir to what remains of the family fortune. But in telling Monica who she really is, Olivia would have to betray Catherine’s wishes and reveal the story behind Monica’s ancestry.

The Gannon fortune is being squandered by Alex’s nephews Greg and Peter Gannon, and other board members of the Gannon Foundation, who camouflage their profligate lifestyles with philanthropy.

Now their carefully constructed image is cracking. Greg, a prominent financier, is under criminal investigation, and Peter, a Broadway producer, is a

suspect in the murder of a young woman who has been extorting money from him.

The only people aware of Olivia’s impending choice are those exploiting the Gannon inheritance. To silence Olivia and prevent Monica from learning the secret, some of them will stop at nothing—even murder.

Clark’s riveting new novel explores the juxtaposition of medical science and religious faith, and the search for identity by the daughter of a man adopted at birth.

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

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When a deceased nun, Sister Catherine, becomes a candidate for sainthood in this gripping thriller from bestseller Clark (Just Take My Heart), Monica Farrell, a 31-year-old Manhattan pediatrician, becomes the target of those who don't want her to inherit what's left of a fortune created by her unknown grandfather, Alex Gannon, with whom Catherine had a secret love child before she took up holy orders. That child, given up for adoption, became Monica's father. Monica must now testify whether two boys became cancer-free due to prayers to Sister Catherine so she can qualify for beatification. Meanwhile, Olivia Morrow, Catherine's 82-year-old dying cousin, ponders whether to tell Monica she's Alex's granddaughter. Clark skillfully mixes spiritual questions with down and dirty deeds as she reveals Gannon Foundation funds have been steadily siphoned off by greedy heirs and associates who will stop at nothing, even murder, to keep their criminal misbehavior under wraps. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Mary Higgins Clark's books are world-wide bestsellers. In the U.S. alone, her books have sold over one hundred million copies.

She is the author of thirty-one previous suspense novels. Her first book, a biographical novel about George Washington, was re-issued with the title, Mount Vernon Love Story, in June 2002. Her memoir, Kitchen Privileges, was published by Simon & Schuster in November 2002. Her first children's book, Ghost Ship, illustrated by Wendell Minor, was published in April 2007 as a Paula Wiseman Book/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

She is co-author, with her daughter Carol Higgins Clark, of five holiday suspense novels Deck the Halls (2000), He Sees You When You're Sleeping (2001), The Christmas Thief (2004), Santa Cruise (2006), and Dashing through the Snow (2008).

Mary Higgins Clark was chosen by Mystery Writers of America as Grand Master of the 2000 Edgar Awards. An annual Mary Higgins Clark Award sponsored by Simon & Schuster, to be given to authors of suspense fiction writing in the Mary Higgins Clark tradition, was launched by Mystery Writers of America during Edgars week in April 2001. She was the 1987 president of Mystery Writers of America and, for many years, served on their Board of Directors. In May 1988, she was Chairman of the International Crime Congress.

Visit her on the web at www.maryhigginsclark.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (April 13, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1439172269
• ISBN-13: 978-1439172261
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (90 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,057 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

If I were to define myself in one sentence, I would say, "I'm a nice Irish Catholic girl from the Bronx."

I was a Christmas Eve baby all those years ago, the second of the three children of Nora and Luke Higgins. Mother was pushing forty when they married and my father was forty-two. My older brother was named Joseph. Nineteen months later I, Mary, was born. Three and a half years later, my little brother, John, came along.

We lived in a very nice section of the Bronx on a street off Pelham Parkway. I loved our house. I still love it. After my father died, when I was eleven, my mother had to sell it.

I went to Saint Francis Xavier Grammar School. Two years ago I went back and was Principal for a Day. Escorted by two of the tiniest children, I was led into the auditorium while the whole student body sang "Hello Mary. You're back where you belong." I still tear up thinking about it.

I was awarded a scholarship to Villa Maria Academy which is in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx, otherwise I couldn't have afforded to set foot in it.

I went to Woods Secretarial School and at eighteen had my first full-time job as Secretary to the creative director of Remington Rand's in-house advertising agency. If I were making that choice now I would have gone to college even though God knows we needed the income. On the other hand the three years I spent in Remington Rand was a tutorial in advertising which served me well when I was widowed with five small children. Another plus was that I left Remington to be a flight stewardess with Pan American Airways and when my contemporaries were seniors in college, I was flying to Europe, Africa and Asia.

Warren Clark and I were married on December 26, 1949 and had five children in the next eight years; Marilyn, Warren, David, Carol and Patricia. Warren died of a heart attack in 1964. The highest compliment I can pay my kids are that they are like him.

I sold my first short story when I was twenty-eight. It was alled 'Stowaway'. It had been rejected forty times before a magazine in Chicago bought it for one hundred dollars.

My first book was about George Washington. It was published in 1969 and disappeared without a trace. Three years ago Simon and Schuster co-published it with the Mount Vernon Historical Society and retitled 'Mount Vernon Love Story', it became a bestseller.

My first suspense novel 'Where Are the Children' was bought in 1974 for three thousand dollars by Simon and Schuster. Thirty-three books later, I'm still with S&S.

Time to wind up - at least for the present. As soon as I sold 'Children' I enrolled in Fordham College. Went there for five years at night and earned a B.A. in Philosophy. Summa cum laude, if you please.

I never thought I'd marry again but ten years ago I threw a cocktail party on St. Patrick's day. My daughter, Pat, urged me to invite John Conheeney. Her opening words about him were, "Have I got a hunk for you!" He came to the party and we were married eight months later.

I'm Honorary Chairman of FraXa Research. My grandson, David, has the Fragile X syndrome, which is the second leading cause of retardation after Downs Syndrome. Basically the brain of the people who have it can't send out the proper signals because there's a kind of short circuit in the synapses that carry the signals. We raise money for research with the goal of finding a medication that will work around that short circuit. I go all over the country to the fund-raisers as new chapters of FraXa are opened.

I'm always asked to name my favorite book. They're ALL my favorites. If there is one book that is very special to me, it is my memoir 'Kitchen Privileges' because writing it made me relive my early life including those first struggles to become a writer. I think 'Kitchen Privileges' is both tender and funny and it's me.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars MHC always delivers, April 15, 2010

By 

Silly Sister (South Carolina) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Shadow of Your Smile (Hardcover)

The Shadow of Your Smile, the latest thriller from Mary Higgins Clark, is in almost every way typical of her previous books. I want to say right away that I enjoyed it, much more than her last book as a matter of fact. MHC raises some interesting points concerning the natural conflict between faith and science in this one.

Dr. Monica Farrell, a pediatrician with a successful practice in New York, doesn't know her father's birth mother was a woman who later took vows and is now being considered for sainthood. Miracles of healing have been attributed to Sister Catherine, her grandmother, including one involving a patient of Monica's with terminal brain cancer. Dr. Farrell is no longer a practicing Catholic and considers herself to be a scientist first and foremost. To her, miracles are simply events that will have a logical explanation some time in the future.

The man who fathered Catherine's child was an inventor whose patents provided an enormous income he willed to "any issue" of his, not knowing what had happened to the child Catherine bore in secret. The default heirs are two brothers whose greed and dishonest business practices have resulted in the necessity for multiple murder to keep their house of cards from collapsing. After the suspicious death of a close friend of Dr. Farrell's, one who was trying to help her find her father's parents, Monica is marked to be the next victim.

As with all other MHC books, there is no bad language, no descriptions of heavy sex or blood or violence, although obviously bodies do turn up - proof that a good thriller doesn't have to commit assault and battery on the senses. The female characters, whether eighteen or eighty-eight are all lady-like, dress conservatively, drink pots of tea and come from solid Catholic families. Come to think of it, the male characters are like that, too. But MHC is no lady when it comes to plotting. "Shadow" has some very ingenious twists and turns, and the steady pacing kept me turning the pages well past my bedtime.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE SECRET HEIRESS, June 26, 2010

By 

Laurel-Rain Snow "Rain" "Rainy Days" (Fresno, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Shadow of Your Smile (Hardcover)

When 82-year-old Olivia Morrow receives the news that she is dying and has little time left, she must make a big decision. Many years ago, her deceased cousin Catherine, who became a nun, had a big secret. And Olivia has letters in her possession that confirm the details of the fact that, at age seventeen, Catherine gave birth to a baby boy, whom she subsequently put up for adoption. The child's father, Alex Gannon, went on to become a world-famous doctor, scientist, and inventor holding medical patents.

Just to complicate things a bit further, this same nun is being considered for "beatification" because of alleged miracles she has performed, by healing terminally ill children.

Meanwhile, also living in New York City is Dr. Monica Farrell, daughter of that same child, completely unaware that she is the only living "issue" of that famous man. His other relatives--nephew, etc.--are squandering the fortune and are involved in nefarious activities. Unaware of the possible connection between them, Dr. Farrell is being called upon to "testify" as to the medical facts and supposed miracle that healed one of her patients, all in support of the sainthood of this nun.

So the scene is set. What will Olivia do? And what will certain others do to keep the truth from coming to life?

Through the pages and chapters, which I am rapidly turning as the suspense builds, we see glimpses of each of these characters and watch as events speed up and tensions heighten, while lives hang in the balance--literally. I enjoyed the way the author pulled in supposedly incidental characters and created unique circumstances that would help bring down the house of cards built by the unworthy characters, somehow forestalling disaster.

This was a very quick read, due in large part to the way this author builds suspense and gives us layers of the story, with each subsequent chapter bringing us closer to the ultimate conclusion.

The Shadow of Your Smile was a definite five star read for me!

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Could not get into this book, May 3, 2010

By 

B. Woodard "vanny0528" (TN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Shadow of Your Smile (Hardcover)

I have always been a fan of Mary Higgins Clark so it pains me to write this review. The story was not as bad as others suggest, a little far fetched, but I dont mind suspending belief a bit if the story is good. Sadly it was not.

I had a hard time relating to the actions and thoughts/dialog of the characters. The young people, well they acted and talked like much older people. I dont mean wiser, I mean the dialog seemed to be from a much older generation. It completely removed me from the story.

The thought process of the characters was too simplistic. Plus so much of the the characters thoughts were completely irrelevent. The characters thought in a dialog of an older generation as well. Reading the characters workig out every thought in their head with outdated cliches was just too much for me.

And this might be a bit nitpicky but as a mother of young children, I was completely thrown from the story when the Doctor suggested baby aspirin for a toddler. What? You dont give aspiring to young children anymore. And also giving a bottle to a 19 month old toddler. Again, nitpicky but it is generally suggested to wear a child from a bottle by 12 months, yet this Doctor was feeding a toddler not just milk but other drinks like water from a bottle. Perhaps a bit more research would have been in order.

All in all, I cannot recommend this book, and I hate that, because I grew up reading MHC's books and loved to share them with others.