![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() They end up living with the hard-edged Mae, a gambler, and her neglected daughter Ramona, in a blue-collar neighborhood where everything is foreign to them. As a result, Clarise is institutionalized and the girls are assigned to foster care. Clarise, in mourning, is prescribed Valium no one knows that she's allergic to the drug, and so when she collapses it's assumed that she's attempted suicide by overdose and is having a breakdown caused by her husband's death. An inexperienced boater, he drowns in a sudden storm, thinking, as he dies, of Clarise and the girls. Their mother, the light-skinned, lighthearted Clarise, and their father, the dark-skinned, dashing Finch, have a charmed marriageuntil Finch's catering business hits rocky waters, and dire financial need causes him to go out on a fateful crabbing trip. A trio of Philadelphia-born sisters is the focus of this solid if uninspired second novel: Shern, Victoria, and Bliss are born to loving, well-meaning parents, but the forces of circumstance cause their lives to change drastically one day in 1965. McKinney-Whetstone (Tumbling, 1996) scores big on mood and language, less on plot and character. ![]()
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