by Julie Buxbaum. When Ellie's lifelong best friend, Lucy, is murdered on a London street in front of her eight-year-old daughter, Sophie, Ellie drops everything-career and husband (especially husband)-and flies to England to nurse Sophie back to emotional health. Sophie has been rendered mute since her mother's death, and her father provides no comfort, taking refuge at work and the local pubs. Through nightly immersions in the magical realm in The Secret Garden, Ellie is able to cajole Sophie back into the real world, but the child's healing can't come soon enough to suit Ellie's husband, Phillip. Still reeling from the death of their first child, the couple's relationship was already strained when Ellie fled to London. Now, as she confronts her multiple losses, Ellie struggles to discover what her heart needs most of all. Buxbaum avoids the obvious tear-jerking effects such tragedies can produce, gracefully capturing the phenomenon of paralyzing loss with searing poignancy in her portrayal of heartbreakingly precocious Sophie. --Booklist. (Check Catalog)
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
After you : a novel
by Julie Buxbaum. When Ellie's lifelong best friend, Lucy, is murdered on a London street in front of her eight-year-old daughter, Sophie, Ellie drops everything-career and husband (especially husband)-and flies to England to nurse Sophie back to emotional health. Sophie has been rendered mute since her mother's death, and her father provides no comfort, taking refuge at work and the local pubs. Through nightly immersions in the magical realm in The Secret Garden, Ellie is able to cajole Sophie back into the real world, but the child's healing can't come soon enough to suit Ellie's husband, Phillip. Still reeling from the death of their first child, the couple's relationship was already strained when Ellie fled to London. Now, as she confronts her multiple losses, Ellie struggles to discover what her heart needs most of all. Buxbaum avoids the obvious tear-jerking effects such tragedies can produce, gracefully capturing the phenomenon of paralyzing loss with searing poignancy in her portrayal of heartbreakingly precocious Sophie. --Booklist. (Check Catalog)
