Without a Backward Glance - Softcover

Veitch, Kate

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0452289475 ISBN 13: 9780452289475

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2008

Synopsis

A deeply felt first novel of family, choices, and coming to terms with the past.

On a stifling Christmas Eve in 1967 the lives of the McDonald children-Deborah, Robert, James, and Meredith-changed forever. Their mother, Rosemarie, told them she was running out to buy some lights for the tree. She never came back. The children were left with their father, and a gnawing question: why had their mother abandoned them?

Over the years, the four siblings have become practiced in concealing their pain, remaining close into adulthood, and forming their own families. But long-closed wounds are reopened when a chance encounter brings James face-to-face with Rosemarie after nearly forty years. Secrets that each sibling has locked away come to light as they struggle to come to terms with their mother's reappearance, while at the same time their beloved father is progressing into dementia. Veitch's family portrait reveals the joys and sorrows, the complexity and ambiguity of family life, and poignantly probes what it means to love and what it means to leave.

About this title

About the Author

Kate Veitch is a journalist and author who grew up in Melbourne, Australia. Currently, she divides her time between San Francisco and New South Wales, Australia.

From Booklist

Similar to Anne Tyler in her wry affection for her characters and to Anita Shreve in her aptitude for crafting compulsively readable plotlines, first-novelist Veitch delivers a remarkably assured debut that is sure to find a ready audience. The McDonald children have never really recovered from their mother’s abandonment—she walked out on Christmas Eve in 1967. The Australian siblings continue to carry into adulthood the emotional scars of betrayal, which are only exacerbated now that their father is exhibiting the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. The eldest, Deborah, has become a cold perfectionist, while the youngest, Meredith, drinks away her sorrows. Steady Robert, a happily married family man, suffers from a severe case of OCD, while James, a wealthy painter, fails to ever fully engage in his life and his relationship with his supportive wife. When James unexpectedly finds their mother, now a successful clothing designer living in England, the siblings must work through their issues in preparation for a family reunion. With its brisk pacing and compassionate take on human failing, this absorbing novel is sure to win many fans. --Joanne Wilkinson

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0452289475
• ISBN 13: 9780452289475
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 371