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href="http://www.indystar.com/article/20110130/LIVING20/101300321/Reality-domestic-abuse-plays-out-author-s-novels?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|IndyStar.com|s"><U><FONT
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lang=EN>http://www.indystar.com/article/20110130/LIVING20/101300321/Reality-domestic-abuse-plays-out-author-s-novels?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|IndyStar.com|s</U></FONT></FONT></SPAN></A></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </P><FONT size=2><SPAN lang=EN>Starred
Review. Bohjalian (<I>Law of Similars</I>) has built a reputation on his rich
characters and immersing readers in diverse subjects—homeopathy, animal rights
activism, midwifery—and his latest surely won't disappoint. The morning after
her baptism into the Rev. Stephen Drew's Vermont Baptist church, Alice Hayward
and her abusive husband are found dead in their home, an apparent
murder-suicide. Stephen, the novel's first narrator, is so racked with guilt
over his failure to save Alice that he leaves town. Soon, he meets Heather
Laurent, the author of a book about angels whose own parents' marriage also
ended in tragedy. Stephen's deeply sympathetic narration is challenged by the
next two narrators: deputy state attorney Catherine Benincasa, whose suspicions
are aroused initially by Stephen's abrupt departure (and then by questions about
his relationship with Alice), and Heather, who distances herself from Stephen
for similar reasons and risks the trip into her dark past by seeking out Katie,
the Haywards' now-orphaned 15-year-old daughter who puts into play the final
pieces of the puzzle, setting things up for a touching twist. Fans of
Bohjalian's more exotic works will miss learning something new, but this is a
masterfully human and compassionate tale. <I>(Feb.)</I>
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