โ Scribed by Louise Wener
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Claire's older brother, Daniel, has disappeared. He leaves work one Friday afternoon, shortly before Christmas, and vanishes into thin air. Married, successful, rich, there seems no reason why he would abandon his life. Has he been killed? Has he been kidnapped? Or has he just had enough?
Set between London and Miami, this is the story of a family with ghosts to bury. It opens on the day of the Challenger shuttle explosion at Cape Canaveral: a tragic moment that rips this family apart and sets Daniel's disappearance in motion some 18 years later. In the midst of it all sits Clairedivorced, irresponsible, fluent in six foreign languages yet hopeless at interpreting life. It is Claire who knows Daniel best. It is Claire who becomes convinced that she knows where her older brother is and sets off on a journey to find him.
The search for Daniel Ronson, a British lawyer who disappears soon after the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003, fuels Wener's third novel to be published in the U.S., but what really propels it off the launch pad is the portrait of Daniel's eccentric younger sister, Claire, who determines to track him down. Wondering if the Columbia tragedy might have triggered a post-traumatic stress reaction (Daniel and Claire's father died of a heart attack shortly after the 1986 Challenger disaster), Claire leaves the U.K. for Miami, where she hopes to find some answers. She gets some sleuthing advice from Huey, a down-on-his-luck actor, and Huey's goofy boa constrictorloving girlfriend. While a subplot in which Huey plots revenge against real-life producer Harvey Weinstein, whom the actor blames for his sagging career, is funny, it's so strained that it blurs the focus on an otherwise lovely contemplation about recovering from the black holes in every family's life. Wener (The Perfect Play) is the former lead singer of the British pop band Sleeper. (Oct.)
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The former Sleeper singer's third novel (following Goodnight Steve McQueen, 2004) showcases the author's increasingly effective ability to shift between caustic one-liners and quieter scenes full of insight and feeling. When successful London attorney Daniel mysteriously disappears, it's left to his younger sister, Claire, a promiscuous free spirit, to lead the effort to track him down. Her dysfunctional family seems even more feckless in the face of crisis--her mother is an alcoholic who turns harsh and vindictive after her second gin and tonic, and her sister seems more intent on stealing Claire's latest boyfriend than on finding their brother. Claire heads for Florida, with her ex-husband along for support, sensing that their father's death there long ago, witnessed only by Daniel on the day the Challenger exploded, may be the key to his disappearance and to her family's emotional paralysis. Wener evokes modern London and old Miami with just the right amount of detail in a winning novel that mixes a little mystery, a little romance, and a lot of comedy. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright American Library Association. All rights reserved
Library : General
Formats : EPUB
ISBN : 9780060841737
A Novel
๐ SIMILAR VOLUMES
SUMMARY: Claire's older brother, Daniel, has disappeared. He leaves work one Friday afternoon, shortly before Christmas, and vanishes into thin air. Married, successful, rich, there seems no reason why he would abandon his life. Has he been killed? Has he been kidnapped? Or has he just had enough?
SUMMARY: Claire's older brother, Daniel, has disappeared. He leaves work one Friday afternoon, shortly before Christmas, and vanishes into thin air. Married, successful, rich, there seems no reason why he would abandon his life. Has he been killed? Has he been kidnapped? Or has he just had enough?
SUMMARY: Claire's older brother, Daniel, has disappeared. He leaves work one Friday afternoon, shortly before Christmas, and vanishes into thin air. Married, successful, rich, there seems no reason why he would abandon his life. Has he been killed? Has he been kidnapped? Or has he just had enough?
Claire's older brother, Daniel, has disappeared. He leaves work one Friday afternoon, shortly before Christmas, and vanishes into thin air. Married, successful, rich, there seems no reason why he would abandon his life. Has he been killed' Has he been kidnapped' Or has he just had enough' Set betwee
Claire's older brother, Daniel, has disappeared. He leaves work one Friday afternoon, shortly before Christmas, and vanishes into thin air. Married, successful, rich, there seems no reason why he would abandon his life. Has he been killed' Has he been kidnapped' Or has he just had enough' Set betwee
Claire's older brother, Daniel, has disappeared. He leaves work one Friday afternoon, shortly before Christmas, and vanishes into thin air. Married, successful, rich, there seems no reason why he would abandon his life. Has he been killed' Has he been kidnapped' Or has he just had enough' Set betwee