Woman in Red (Thorndike Core) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Eileen Goudge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2007 | Series: Thorndike Core

Alice Kessler spent nine years in prison for the attempted murder of the drunk driver who killed her eldest son. Now she has returned home to Grays Island to reconnect with the son she left behind. Her little boy, Jeremy, an angry teenager now, is wrongly accused of rape, and so mother and son are thrown together in a desperate attempt to prove his innocence. At the same time, Alice must battle the man responsible for putting her behind bars, who has since become the mayor of her hometown. She is aided by Colin McGinty, a recovering alcoholic and 9/11 widower. Colin has also recently returned to the island in the aftermath of the death of his grandfather, a famous artist best known for his haunting portrait, Woman in Red, which happens to be of Alices grandmother. In a tale that weaves the past with the present, we come to know the story behind the portrait, of the forbidden wartime romance between William McGinty and Eleanor Styles, and the deadly secret that bound them more tightly than even their love for each other. A secret that, more than half a century later, is about to be unburied, as Alice and Colin are drawn into a fragile romance of their own and the ghost of an enemy from long ago surfaces in the form of his grandson, the very man responsible for sending Alice to prison.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this page-turning novel, Alice Kessler, the married mother of two sons, is living on the fictional Grays Island, in the Pacific Northwest, when her eight-year-old son is run over while riding his bike. Alice is convinced the driver, Owen White, was drunk—though her husband, Randy, is not. Neither is the court system. So, on the day Alice loses her wrongful death lawsuit, she runs Owen down in the courthouse parking lot, crippling but not killing him. Alice serves nine years and returns to the island near-broke and hoping to reunite with her surviving son, Jeremy, now 16. (Her husband, Randy, has divorced her.) At the same time, Colin McGinty, an ex-Manhattan prosecutor, has returned to his dead artist grandfather's island house after losing his wife in 9/11. Alice and Colin's fates become bound with a little help from Colin's inherited border collie and, more concretely, a portrait of Alice's grandmother. Cutting between WWII-era depictions of the lives of Colin's and Alice's grandparents and the melodramatic present (including Alice's son being accused of rape and Owen White's machinations as island mayor), haute-romance veteran Goudge (Immediate Family; Wish Come True; etc.) unspools a predictable yet satisfying tale of survival and redemption. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Returning home to the snug offshore community of Gray's Island, Washington, after nine years in prison for the attempted murder of the drunk driver who killed her son, Alice Kessler finds that much has changed. For one thing, her intended victim, Owen Wilson, now confined to a wheelchair, has been elected mayor and uses his infirmity to great political advantage: blackmailing police and court officials, green-lighting controversial property developments, and mercilessly intimidating anyone who dares oppose him. Wanting only to lead a quiet life so she can rebuild a relationship with her surviving son, Jeremy, Alice quickly discovers the depths of Wilson's need for revenge when Jeremy is falsely accused of rape. Desperate to clear Jeremy's name, Alice must rely on one of the few people brave enough to stand up to Wilson, recovering alcoholic and former Manhattan district attorney Colin McGinty. He has come to Gray's Island still mourning his wife, who was killed on 9/11, and finds strength in Alice's fierce determination to save her son and put her past behind her. Goudge's skillful storytelling slyly juxtaposes bucolic imagery and congenial, if not particularly complex, characters with an incisively sinister, often surprising tale of secrets kept and promises broken. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 607 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press (December 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410403033
• ISBN-13: 978-1410403032
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,665,693 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born on the Fourth of July, and it's been fireworks ever since. I began writing at age eight, with short stories and poems, and I haven't looked back since. From the early days of mostly collecting rejection slips, I went on to publish thirty-two novels for young adults, thirteen (and still counting) of women's fiction, as well as numerous short stories and magazine articles, and one cookbook.

Often I'm asked where I get my ideas. Fortunately, I have a wealth of life experiences to draw from. Starting when I dropped out of college to get married, at age eighteen. Two years later I was divorced, with a baby son and no means of support. I ended up briefly on welfare, and stood in line for government surplus food. But every cloud has its silver lining, and this one led to my determination to make it as a professional writer. I borrowed a typewriter, and lacking a desk, plunked it down on the living room floor. The rest, as they say, is history.

Following a string of young adult novels, I published my first adult novel, GARDEN OF LIES, in 1986. The saga of baby girls switched at birth---one rich, the other poor---went on to enjoy a combined total of 16 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, in hardcover and paperback. Though there's no such thing as an overnight success, I felt like one, having gone in a matter of months from not knowing how I was going to pay the rent to wondering what I was going to do with all that money. The first thing I did was fulfill a fantasy born of years of wearing hand-me-downs: I walked into Saks Fifth Avenue and bought a dress...without even looking at the price tag!

I've since gone on to write many more novels. My most recent, which came out in June of '07, is WOMAN IN RED, a very special story about a woman just out of prison and a man struggling to get back on his feet after losing his wife on 9/11. Look for it in trade paperback in May of this year. I also have another hardcover coming out,in June, titled DOMESTIC AFFAIRS ---a Cinderalla story in reverse: Riches to rags but with a happy ending. I'll be posting sample chapters on my website at www.eileengoudge.com, so stay tuned. I would love to hear your comments once you've read the book! And, remember, there's always more where that came from...

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars READER'S DELIGHT, June 10, 2007

By 

Lois Goetz - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Woman in Red (Hardcover)

Fellow Readers,

You are in for a treat. I have read all of Eileen's books; each one gets better and better. This one takes the cake! The characters reach right into your heart and stay there throughout the entire journey. I found myself speaking to Alice, her son Jeremy, and Colin while they lived through every twist and turn in this page-turner. This book will keep you wanting more until finally you reach the conclusion. Happy REading!

Lois Goetz

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great "back-porch" reading!, July 12, 2007

By 

Donnagene O. Palmer "Jazz Junkie" (Warren, OH) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Woman in Red (Hardcover)

Eileen Goudge never disappoints. The characters are so well-defined that the reader has no trouble imagining physical characteristics to match the personalities of each. The story has the main plot, as well as sub-plots, going back and forth in time. There is mystery, romance, alienation, suspense, and a surprise ending. This is a "must read"!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Beach Read, July 1, 2007

By 

Maudeen Wachsmith "BeachReader" (Port Townsend, WA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Woman in Red (Hardcover)

This was a book hard to put down but I had to give it a 1/2 point off because of the sloppy research about the cardinal being in the San Juans (mentioned more than once) but 1/2 point added due to the setting (a fictionalized Orcas Island, called Gray's Island in the book). Basically it's about Alice Kessler who has just returned to Gray's Island after nine years in prison for attempted murder of the man responsible for the death of her young son. Arriving on the same ferry is Colin McGinty, a 9/11 widower there to settle his grandfather's estate. Alice needs to reconnect with the son she left behind, now a teenager who doesn't seem to want to have much to do with her, and facing ostracization from the community (the man she attempted to murder is now the town's powerful mayor). Interwoven is a poignant story from the 1940s which just happens to be about Alice's grandmother and Colin's grandfather.

I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys powerful family dramas -- it does get a little melodramatic toward the end and that kept it from being an 5-star read. But overall, I enjoyed it and it was a smooth, quick read and was never dull. Oh and my town even gets a brief mention toward the end!