Good Children - Hardcover

Wilhelm, Kate

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 078380167X ISBN 13: 9780783801674

Publisher: G K Hall & Co, 1998

Synopsis

General FictionLarge Print Edition*A Literary Guild SelectionA superb story of death, love and deception. starred, Library JournalA wrenching masterpiece about love, loyalty, and lies that will lodge itself in readers psyches long after theyve finished the last, stunning chapter. starred, BooklistWhen they move to a new home in Oregon, the McNair family know theyre where they belong. But when tragedy strikes the family, the children face the prospect of being separated by the state. Rather than being sent to different foster homes, the four children decide to lie. And its a big lie. The sort of deceit that can hold a family together or tear it apart . . .

About this title

Review:

Calling Kate Wilhelm a born storyteller is like calling Frank Sinatra a born singer: it's necessary but not sufficient to explain the genius that lies just behind the apparent facility. Whether Wilhelm is writing her prizewinning science fiction, her best-of-the-bunch legal thrillers (such as 1997's Malice Prepense, which became For the Defense in paperback), or an emotionally charged psychological thriller such as The Good Children, Wilhelm instantly brings her characters to life and roots them in a landscape both familiar and formidable. What children haven't felt the terror of moving to a new home and a new school--that icy edge of not belonging that the four youngsters of Will and Lee McNair have been walking all their lives? Soon after the family moves into the Oregon house that Will promised would be their permanent home, he is killed in an accident, and the children have to cope with a series of life disturbances that strongly resemble the constant disasters faced (and overcome) by the original settlers of Oregon's rougher terrains. Wilhelm adds modern touches of paranoia and political correctness to produce a story and characters that you'll have trouble forgetting.

From the Inside Flap:

ith a promise. A pact. It became a secret that no one must tell--that their parents were dead and gone. Including the one they'd buried in the backyard.

Now the McNair children are growing older, discovering love, college, careers. But their lie haunts them. Their home holds them captive. Only the horrifying truth of their mother's death can set the children free. And only the truth can destroy them all. . . .

About this edition

• Publisher: G K Hall & Co
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 078380167X
• ISBN 13: 9780783801674
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 299