Helpful Score: 1
Wonderfult romance. Clean.
Helpful Score: 1
This is one of Belva Plain's best books.
Helpful Score: 1
This was a good book. Very sad, but ended wonderful.
Helpful Score: 1
1-5 I give it a 5. I have a different cover they don't have listed.
They were a beautiful, brilliant accomplished-a distinguished family that had been the New England town's chief benefactors, until a brutal crime ripped them apart and nearly destroyed with shame.A passionate, riveting book about a family that was torn by secrecy...
Large print book. This Belva Plain novel revolves around a family nearly destroyed by secrecy.
Excellent story that keeps you interested. Narrator Cherry Jones does an excellent job. Highly recommend!
Now I know why Belva Plain is such a celebrated novelist. A fine romance/mystery with many plot twistings and turnings.
From back cover: First came the sin.--- Then the lies.
He was handsome, charming, irresistable, and an eighteen-year-old lady-killer, her uncle Cliff's stepson, Ted. But in one terrible night he would shatter the life of fourteen-year-old Charlotte Dawes and nearly destroy her family.
Years afterward, Charlotte would remember that night with fear and loathing, with pain that could be banished only by her work as a gifted architect, building a new world for others as she conceals her own.
For Charlotte's family, prime employers in New England mill town, what happened to Charlotte was the beginning of the end. Her father is left shattered by his daughter's pain. Her troubled mother is unable to cope. And her distinguished family has fallen from grace, plunged into debt.
The only rock that sustains them in their darkest hours is a woman whose own guilty secret has given her the power to ruin--or resurrect--the family to whom she owes her life.
From back cover: First came the sin.--- Then the lies.
He was handsome, charming, irresistable, and an eighteen-year-old lady-killer, her uncle Cliff's stepson, Ted. But in one terrible night he would shatter the life of fourteen-year-old Charlotte Dawes and nearly destroy her family.
Years afterward, Charlotte would remember that night with fear and loathing, with pain that could be banished only by her work as a gifted architect, building a new world for others as she conceals her own.
For Charlotte's family, prime employers in New England mill town, what happened to Charlotte was the beginning of the end. Her father is left shattered by his daughter's pain. Her troubled mother is unable to cope. And her distinguished family has fallen from grace, plunged into debt.
The only rock that sustains them in their darkest hours is a woman whose own guilty secret has given her the power to ruin--or resurrect--the family to whom she owes her life.
great book
A very readable iteraction between characters and events.
A family is nearly destroyed by a series of cover-ups meant to shield the innocents.
Just as good as all the rest of Belva Plain's novels.
When Charlotte Dawes is raped by her cousin-by-marriage, Ted at 14, her parents are furious. Charlotte becomes pregnant, and as she recovers from a ruptured tubal pregnancy both parents are at her bedside. Meanwhile, Ted continues assaulting women until he is caught and indicted. He then escapes from prison into the night.
Eight years later, Charlotte is working in Manhattan and despairs of forming a relationship with a man, until she meets Roger Heywood who coaxes her out of her traumatic fear of sex. Disaster follows when a flood happens, potentially revealing a terrible secret. It was a little farfetched but I notice with Belva Plain that you really learn to care about the characters. I give it an A+!
Eight years later, Charlotte is working in Manhattan and despairs of forming a relationship with a man, until she meets Roger Heywood who coaxes her out of her traumatic fear of sex. Disaster follows when a flood happens, potentially revealing a terrible secret. It was a little farfetched but I notice with Belva Plain that you really learn to care about the characters. I give it an A+!
A great read.
"Belva Plain's searing novel cuts to the heart of a family ravaged by secracy. But it is ultimetly a story of redemtion, the kind that grows when one person dares to tell the truth".
Another great Plain read.
I really enjoyed page this book it was a page turner and I never would have guessed the secret.
A good read
One of Belva Plain's best stories.
For Charlotte's family, prime employers in a New England mill town, what happened to Charlotte was the beginning of the cover-up, the beginning of the end. Her father is left shattered by his daughter's pain. Her troubled mother is unable to cope. And her distinguished family has fallen from grace, plunged into debt. The only rock that sustains them in their darkest hours is a woman whose own guilty secret has given her the power to ruin - or resurrect - the famiy to whom she owes her life.
He was handsome, charming, irresistible, and an 18 year old lady-killer. But in one terrible afternoon he would shatter the life of 14 yearold Charlotte and nearly destroy her family.
Handsome, charming, irresistable, 18 year old Ted is her uncle's stepson. But in one terrible afternoon, he would shatter the life of 14 year old Charlotte Dawes and nearly destroy her family.
from the back: He was handsome, charming, irresistible, and an eighteen year old lady killer, her uncle Cliff's stepson, Ted. But in one terrible afternoon he would shatter he life of fourteen year old Charlotte Dawes and nearly destroy her family. Years afterward, Charlotte would remember that day with fear and loathing, with pain that could be banished only by her work as a gifted architect, bulding a new world for others as she conceals her own.
I have not yet read this book. It is currently on my TBR list. If you are interested in this book, please let me know and I will put it aside and read it. That is a good way pick what I want to read next.
