Rescue. A Novel.

Paige Austin is content with her interesting career, friends, and comfortable if childless marriage, until her handsome, roguish, teenage stepson, thrown out of boarding school, comes to live with her and his father in their Manhattan apartment

A 40-year-old New York City wife finds her disappointment in being childless alleviated through the care she offers her troubled 17-year-old stepson in Richards's fast-paced, witty second novel (after Every Day). Unable to conceive with her corporate lawyer husband and reluctant to adopt, Paige MacGowan finds baby hunger threatening to spoil her otherwise happy life. A professional bookbinder and second wife of Ian, Paige is also depressed and needy following the recent death of her adored father. Looking after "the littles," the four children in the after-school day-care program she runs, helps somewhat, but it isn't until Malachi, Ian's smart, antagonistic, sarcastic son from his first marriage, is kicked out of school in Brooklyn for selling drugs, and his mother turns to Ian and Paige to provide a home for the "delinquent," that Paige's emptiness begins to fill up. Though she first met Mal when he was 13, Paige has been careful to keep her distance from his disapproving attitude; now, she finds herself giving up her home office so that he can use it as a bedroom. As she tries to provide Mal with the structure and love he needs, Paige begins turning away from Ian, who in turn feels upstaged by his own son. A coterie of sister second wives give Paige advice and support on how to deal with a stepchild, but just when she thinks she has Mal on course, he rebels in a melodramatic fashion. Richards excels at dialogue, capturing teen lingo and other colloquial conversation, and speeding the plot along with admirable dexterity. Though Mal never seems as exhausting as he's meant to be, Paige is a completely realized character, a recognizable middle-aged woman facing the opportunities and limitations of the second half of her life. Agent, Ann Rittenberg.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An account of a troubled adolescent and the havoc he wreaks on his stepmothers domestic life, by the author of Every Day (1997). Usually its the stepmothers who get the bad press, but since this story is being told by one, the perspective is bound to be different. Paige Austin is something of a bluestocking. A bookbinder with a Yale degree, shes married to a lawyer and lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Unable to have children of her own, Paige invests herself in any number of good workstaking tea with rich old ladies, visiting AIDS patients, and tutoring neighborhood children in the afternoons. Her husband Ian MacGowan has two children from a previous marriage, however, and one of themhis son Malachiturns out to be a real handful. Expelled from his Brooklyn prep school for drug use, Malachi is sent to live with Ian by his disgusted mother, who washes her hands of him. Now Paige has to learn how to put up with a child in the house 24 hours a day. The initial surprise is how well she takes to itand how well Malachi, starved for affection since his parents divorce, takes to her. Soon Paige understands how much of a burden her childlessness had been to her. But soon enough, she sees the other side of the coin when Malachi begins to act out his rebellions against her, as well as against his father. After Paige and Ian discover him in bed with a girl, Malachi runs away and vows to live on his ownbut returns stoned one night to take his revenge on Paiges students in a prank that nearly leads to tragedy. Only then can he see the real depths of his anger, and his love. A soap opera, pure and simple, with characters about as deep as cardboard acting out a labyrinthine plot. If you listen closely, you can even hear organ music in the background. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Paige Austin, 40, appears to have it all: a patient and loving husband, Ian; rewarding work as a book conservator; a supportive circle of friends; and "the littles," her after-school daycare group of precocious first graders. None of these gifts, however, mitigate the grief and depression Paige feels over the death of her father and her own inability to conceive a child. Suddenly, her 17-year-old stepson, Malachi, having been expelled from school for selling pot, becomes a major presence in Paige's life. Richards (Every Day, LJ 3/15/97) seems to have set up a promising premise for Paige's and Malachi's mutual salvation and a persuasive story on a topical subject. Unfortunately, the sketchiness of too many characters and a scattered jumpiness throughout the text serve to confuse rather than convince. Paige comes across as far too self-absorbed; one wonders about the long-suffering Ian and questions finally why he or we continue to bother. Not recommended.?Sheila M. Riley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, DC
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.