|
At first glance, HER FATHER'S HOUSE starts slowly, even bordering on boring. "Sometimes in window glass he would catch a reflection of himself on his way to work, wearing his correct dark suit with his briefcase at his side." Donald Wolfe arrives in New York City in the spring of 1968. His life is a happy life. Not exciting, not thrilling, but he's happy. So the story begins. Not gripping, not a rip-roaring page-turner, but the reader sees a man that is content and not trying to fill a void.
Yet it is impossible to leave this story. All those little hints at normalcy point to a major change --- a conflict that appears when Donald meets glamorous, smart Lillian. After a brief courtship, they marry. And as Donald realizes the marriage is doomed, Lillian learns she is pregnant.
Even as they sort through a divorce and await the birth of their unborn child, they discuss Donald's visitation schedule, which he ponders, "How much he really would want or use that, he did not know. If it should be a boy, he would want it." Not endearing thoughts, but Donald does feel a moral and financial obligation to his child. When Tina is born, Donald visits the hospital once and doesn't see his daughter again for four months.
Gradually Donald learns to love his daughter. Then with a deep parental love, he realizes that Tina's life with Lillian will be less than perfect. Thanks to Lillian's new husband, Tina will have everything that money can buy --- except a mother's love. As Donald learns of Lillian's numerous boyfriends, he worries about who will be the stable force in Tina's life if his ex-wife moves abroad with her new, wealthier companion?
After an accident, combined with the threat of Lillian taking Tina out of the country, Donald constructs his plan: give up the life he's worked so hard to acquire and start over with a new identity with his daughter.
Donald Wolfe drives out of NYC with Tina on a Sunday afternoon, and several days later, Jim Fuller arrives in a small town in Georgia with his young daughter Laura. They build a new life in rural Georgia, with Jim refusing to leave the area even for vacations. When he relents --- as Laura graduates college --- the carefully placed lies begin to crumble.
Will the 20-plus years of devotion from her father be enough for Laura to forgive him when she learns the truth?
Belva Plain's HER FATHER'S HOUSE is written in an unforgettable voice that will linger with the reader after the book is finished and will leave the reader to wonder, when is it okay to steal your own child?
--- Reviewed by Jody Pryor
• Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.
© Copyright 1996-2008, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
Back to top.
|
