Crossways: A Novel - Hardcover

Sheila Kohler

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0865381127 ISBN 13: 9780865381124

Publisher: Ontario Review Pr, 2004

Synopsis

In Sheila Kohler's riveting new novel, Kate returns from Paris to her home in South Africa for the funeral of her sister, Marion, who was killed in a car accident that left her husband Louis (the driver) in intensive care. Amid loving reminiscences about growing up with Marion on their parents' Johannesburg estate, Kate begins to reconsider the nature of her sister's death, as, from his hospital bed, Louis recalls his early fascination with the inseparable sisters, his eventual meeting with them, and his seduction of Marion. The more Kate learns about Louis, the more suspicious of him she becomes, until, finally, her suspicions are confirmedas the novel moves to its shocking but inevitable conclusion.

About this title

About the Author

Sheila Kohler teaches at Bennington College in Vermont.

From Publishers Weekly

Kohler (Cracks) explores the dark secrets of a South African family in her elegantly written but lugubrious fifth novel. Translator Kate Kempden, these days a Parisian ex-pat, returns to Crossways, her stately childhood home in Johannesburg, following the death of her sister Marion in a car accident that also severely injured Marion's husband, Louis. An esteemed heart surgeon, Louis is also an Afrikaner, a point his elitist mother-in-law ("Over my dead body will you marry a Boer,") had trouble seeing past. Despite his gifts, Louis is scarred by paternal neglect and maternal sexual abuse; he craved the glittering, charmed perfection he imagined in sisters Kate and Marion and relentlessly pursued the latter. They married and had three children, but Louis often beat his wife, while also remorselessly pursuing homosexual dalliances with fellow doctor Serge and mentor Pottie; he even forced himself on a neighbor child. As Kate lingers in her childhood home, and Louis languishes in the hospital, the horrific truths about Louis and Marion's relationship surface as a detective reveals disturbing details about the car crash, resulting in a confrontation that drives Kate to drastic action. Kohler provides a clear-eyed portrait of the abuser's mind and its self-justifying turns, a sympathetic demi-heroine in Kate and a rousing climax, but the relentless violence and dysfunction make for stark reading.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Ontario Review Pr
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0865381127
• ISBN 13: 9780865381124
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 242