De Schaduw van Mijn Moeder

by Carol Goodman, Annemarie Lodewijk (Translator)

Jaren geleden verdween de moeder van Iris Greenfeder. Ze woonden in Hotel Equinox, waar de vader van Iris manager was en Iris'moeder romans schreef. Toen nam ze de trein en keerde nooit meer terug. Ze stierf tijdens een hotelbrand in Brooklyn, waar ze stond geregistreerd als de echtgenote van een andere man. Wanneer Iris jaren later aan Grace College lesgeeft, probeert ze de waarheid over haar moeder te achterhalen. Kay Greenfeder, zo lijkt het, was een vrouw zonder geschiedenis. Als Iris de geheimen van jaren geleden begint te ontrafelen, beseft ze dat het verleden heel anders is dan ze heeft geloofd....

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Book Club, Thriller, Suspense, Mystery Thriller, Gothic

396 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Carol Goodman is the author of The Lake of Dead Languages, The Seduction of Water, which won the Hammett Prize, The Widow's House, which won the Mary Higgins Clark Award and The Night Visitors, which won the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She is also the co-author, with her husband Lee Slonimsky, of the Watchtower fantasy trilogy. Her work has appeared in such journals as The Greensboro Review, Literal Latte, The Midwest Quarterly, and Other Voices. After graduation from Vassar College, where she majored in Latin, she taught Latin for several years in Austin, Texas. She then received an M.F.A. in fiction from the New School University. Goodman currently teaches literature and writing at The New School and SUNY New Paltz and lives with her family in the Hudson Valley.

Reviews

[Brooke · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I was disappointed that this book wasn't as eerie and atmospheric as Goodman's The Lake of Dead Languages, which was a powerful mystery that's stayed with me for years. However, The Seduction of Water holds its own and is completely engrossing; by the time I had finished, I was a little confused about the idea that I was done with the characters and didn't get to keep following them.

Lake of Dead Languages and Seduction of Water share the element of discovering hidden parts of the past - Seduction is about the main character's search for her dead mother's missing manuscript and untangling the secrets that surround her mother's death. Goodman makes everything come alive, from the characters to the hotel that the main character grew up in and now works at. I look forward to reading the rest of her books, which are currently sitting in my Borrowed From Library pile.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy a story that keeps giving surprises from beginning to end. A story that does not lose momentum half or three-quarters of the way through and then peters out. I enjoyed the depth of the characters in the story. The diversity of whimsical with reality. The flow was smooth. I listened to the audio book and the auditor did a very good job. This is a book that you will think about in between your reading times and you will be eager to get back to the story to find out what happens next. I am a bit sad the book is done which I believe is the sign of a truly good book. Enjoy!!!

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gets 3 stars from me as opposed to 2 because Goodman is a good writer. It's not, however, a very good book, and considering my feelings about the other two of her books that I've read, I'm not sure why I picked it up in the first place. I reviewed The Lake of Dead Languages and The Drowning Tree at the same time, so my reviews of them are practically identical, and what they say is that Goodman is formulaic, her characters are one-dimensional, her plots are predictable, and while they're supposed to be literary thrillers/mysteries, there's no suspense and very little mystery. This book has all those same problems because it's basically those books again.

Here we have (again) a single woman in her mid-30s, who travels (again) to a large and historic building from her past, which is (again) near a body of water, and (again) in upstate New York, to (again) delve into the mysteries and secrets from her past. Someone (again) is killed. Somewhere in the story (again) an old suicide raises its ugly head. It takes (again) over 100 pages for anything to happen. The main character is (again) a teacher.

The repetition of books I've already read from this author is not, unfortunately my main problem with this book. The main problem is character and boredom. Taking the latter first, I kept reading because I read fast and knew I'd be done with it in an evening and I was curious to know how she'd wrap it up. But the "bad guy" was obvious from the moment he was introduced. I wrote down my prediction for the book on a slip of paper and stuck it between the pages I was on when I was able to make it, and my expectation that Joseph would be killed, Harry would be the killer, it would be about the necklace, Iris' mother would have been well-known to Harry in the past, Harry would try to kill Iris, Aidan would save the day, Hedda would likely be sleeping with Harry, and Phoebe would simply be a bitch turned out to be entirely accurate. This was a good 85 pages before the death mentioned on the book jacket flap occurred (which was nearly 200 pages in). When I can solve a murder that hasn't yet happened, you haven't written either a mystery or a thriller. The first 2/3rds of the book just didn't go anywhere.

As to character, all of Goodman's characters are one-dimensional in all her books, but this was worse. I'm expected to believe that Iris has been teaching Aidan for months without him being more than just a student, but then suddenly one day, before he's turned in the paper that supposedly shows his depth (I'm guessing that's what I'm supposed to feel, it doesn't. It shows that his father had a drinking problem and he's afraid of both staying in prison and getting out of prison. That's not depth.), she's struck by his good looks (as described I did not picture him at all good-looking. Keep talking about how pale and thin he is, I don't care if he's got nice eyes and dark hair, he just sounds ill), and for no other given reason she falls for him. He was given no personality. Since Iris was absolutely obsessed with Aidan being an ex-con--it's on practically ever other page for a good 175 pages and every few pages after that--and with their age difference (and so what?! He's 29, she's 36. This is hardly an age difference, why is it constantly mentioned?! Especially when Iris is always reminding herself [and in a couple instances, Aidan] that she's soooo old compared to him, but when she starts to fantasize about marrying Harry, who's in his 70s, she doesn't think about the age difference there at all. I guess it's Harry's money that makes that ok), Goodman needed to give a reason that she suddenly found Aidan so hot that she couldn't keep her hands off him, risking both their jobs. The ex-con thing was very annoying, too. Should Iris warn everyone who meets him that he's an ex-con? Time to remind him that he's staying in a detention halfway house and might have a curfew because he's an ex-con. Does the big boss know that he's an ex-con? Make sure to point out to him that he needs to be respectful because he's on parole...ex-con ex-con ex-con. ENOUGH! Goodman forgot, in all that focus on his prison time, to give him a full personality or any other character traits. He's a charming (not to me) and good-looking (not the way he's described) ex-con. Full stop.

Add to that the transparency of the negativity of Iris' relationship with Jack and you wonder how someone who had such a good relationship with her dad could supposedly find herself so worthless as to make these choices in men. Of course she then starts getting interested in a man she hardly knows, in his 70s, just because he's rich (all her daydreams about Harry are them dancing together in fancy hotels and her never having to work again). Phoebe's hack psychoanalysis that Iris has created a life in which she's safe from all the things that she thinks ruined her mother doesn't wash because until Phoebe starting pushing in Iris didn't seem to believe that marriage was the thing that ruined her mother's writing career. She goes on about how helpful her father was to her mother's writing, so although Iris takes Phoebe's comment as the truth about herself, it doesn't make sense in the context of the story.

Iris believes any negative about her mother that anyone suggests (mistress, unfaithful, thief, abandoning wife and mother, you name it) and argues any positive, and she can't keep her knees together for guys she barely knows...she's not uninhibited or spirited, she's just not a particularly great person. She's supposed to be finding out about her mother's past but doesn't do more than talk to Hedda (who she knows had an argument with her mother), Phoebe (who is clearly a bitch and didn't even know her mother) and read an old hotel register until the last 20 pages of the book. What was the point in going to the hotel for that at all? In the theme of the first couple pages, Iris is ABU: All But Useless.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

When my cousin recommended this book for it's Irish mythology and the story of selkies, my favorite Irish myth, I was hooked! She gave me the book, and I ate up the prologue, the story of her as a little girl, being told the story of the selkie by her mother, had me in tears and craving more.

Then we came to the present...and I didn't like it. Her descriptions were beautiful, I could see everything, but then, there comes a point where there is too much description, and I found myself bored. And then, later, she came off on such jaunts of things that seemed completely irrelevant, I would skip pages at a time. The only think that kept me going was the fact I wanted to know the end of the mystery, and I liked Aidan. That, and my cousin wanted the book back.

And then, over halfway through, I realized one reason I didn't like the book. I really didn't like the protagonist. Now, this could be because the protagonist is 36, and I am only 16, so I can't relate, but I just...sometimes she was daft, and sometimes rude, and I just couldn't connect. And other than that, it seemed like there was a lot of intimate scenes in this book. I admit, I have read much worse...but not much. I'm a girl who likes clean romance, but in this, there was only physical it seemed. And that bothered me. Cheapened the story for me.

And furthermore, it just didn't seem real. I wanted to like this book so much, but it didn't captivate me. I mean, *SPOILER* There's a fire near the end, and she and another character are trying to escape, and it seems like they're having a leisurely conversation while the building is burning around them. I mean, the guy starts talking about when they spent the night together, while making a rope to get out. And the fire is right behind them, suffocating them. Maybe if she had said something about how it was difficult to talk, or how he was rushed, but there was no description.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first book by Carol Goodman I read was The Lake of Dead Languages and that one was by far my favorite. I liked The Drowning Tree more than I thought I would, despite it lacking from the setting several of the things that really hit my sweet spots in The Lake of Dead Languages - namely, Latin, very cold weather and a lot of loving descriptions of ice, and a lesbian romance subplot. The Seduction of Water ranks third on this list for sure. Because of the order I was reading the books, it seemed as though each plot was a more simplified and obvious derivative of the last. I could predict everything that was going to happen in The Seduction of Water and the romance felt annoyingly a little forced in for me. I couldn't even enjoy the more lyrical parts of the book, and the initial setting of New York City felt completely out of character and fake to me. I was not "there" at all. Now I am realizing (or actually I knew this at the time but am only beginning to think about it as i write this) that I've read these books in the complete reverse order from which they were written. I think Carol Goodman has become more subtle and more skilled as an author. If you liked The Seduction of Water at all you will probably love the other two books, because they are on the whole, I think, a lot better.

[Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman is a good mystery novel with a healthy doses of romance and a delicately built vintage atmosphere. The story itself is rather like a tasteful black-and-white movie, which I quite enjoy.

The writing is solid and the 'story within story' mystery is finely set. Although during this re-reading I remembered who is the real murderer and the real plot twist (the heroine's novelist mother stealing her dead friend's identity) half way into the book, so I skimmed through the later part without reading it carefully. That's it.

[Nancy Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the age of only ten, Iris lost her mother in a fire that yielded more clouds of smoke encircled in mystery and unanswered questions than it did flames from the smoldering building. Her mother, Katherine, was a published author of two books – books about the world of fantasy and mythological Selkie creatures of Irish origins. Little Iris laps up these stories each evening as her mother tucks her in and never tired of the tale that always began “In a time before the rivers were drowned by the sea, in a land between the sun and the moon….”

There is a mystery to be solved – many, in fact – but the beauty of the story (at least for me) was in the picturesque fables that unfolded on the pages of this book as Iris’ mother’s stories of old were seductively retold. It was in the midst of the sea foam and the spray of the ocean’s mist upon the rocks that you capture your first glimpse of the Selkies (or at least in your own imagination) and you can completely understand the fascination that could be born in the mind of a child exposed to these stories.

It is somewhere between the Land of Nod, when a mind is mere inches from drifting off to slumber, and the first light of dawn peeking its head over the horizon that you realize maybe – just maybe – these stories are projecting more than a fairy tale but instead, the life of a girl-turned-woman in disguise.

The story is immersed in images of hotels - old hotels, antiquated hotels, some with years of neglect and the inability to modernize to today’s standards, and yet you feel at home between their walls and breathtaking views. But some hotels hold secrets – etched, buried and otherwise. Iris’ father was a manager of Hotel Equinox – a hotel that lies at the center of the story in an area hardly touched by time. Like its name, Hotel Equinox is equally protecting secrets founded in the day and in the night and the truth lies “in a land between the sun and the moon….”

[Melissa Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was on my TBR list for far too long. I enjoyed it.

"Iris Greenfeder, ABD (All But Dissertation), feels the “buts” are taking over her life: all but published, all but a professor, all but married. Yet the sudden impulse to write a story about her mother, Katherine Morrissey, leads to a shot at literary success. The piece recounts an eerie Irish fairy tale her mother used to tell her at bedtime—and nestled inside it is the sad story of her death. It captures the attention of her mother’s former literary agent, who is convinced that Katherine wrote one final manuscript before her strange, untimely end in a fire thirty years ago. So Iris goes back to the remote Hotel Equinox in the Catskills, the place where she grew up, to write her mother’s biography and search for the missing manuscript—and there she unravels a haunting mystery, one that holds more secrets than she ever expected. . . . "

[Karen M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the start , the descriptions of teaching English and the wonderful selkie fairytale/ myth which captured my attention. This leads into a rather convoluted tale of lost necklaces ,greedy hotel moguls, mad writers , misguided publishers,adultery , and the Catholic Church’ treatment of children. Confused you soon will be.
The ends are tied and the protagonist lives to love another day , escaping from the literal ashes of her childhood.

[Cedricsmom · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving Carol Goodman's second novel, the Seduction of Water, 3.5 stars because the book feels more like a blocked writer's extended journal entry than a fully realized story. Not that there's anything wrong with that; I love reading about the writing process. Yet in the context of a novel, that approach feels a tiny bit like a cheat to me. In spite of that, once she gets past her anxiety, she finds a story worth telling and that's what drew me in.

Iris Greenfeder, the protagonist and narrator, is a writer who by her own confession, never finishes anything. Instead of Ph.D. at the end of her name, she puts ABD for All But Dissertation. She got her master's but didn't finish her Ph.D. Her mother, the now deceased K. R. LaFleur, wrote two books in an unfinished trilogy about a fantasy world called Tirra Glynn. Iris's mother was quite famous and Iris sees an opportunity to complete her dissertation by writing a memoir of her mother's life. But first, she must uncover the circumstances of her mother's mysterious death. She sets out for the Catskills to spend the summer at the grand vacation hotel that has been in her family for many years. Over the summer, Iris hopes to find the missing manuscript of volume 3 of her mother's unfinished trilogy (egged on by her mother's infamous editor) and solve the mystery of her mother's death.

The question of whether a woman must sacrifice her art (and therefore, her self) to have a man in her life is a subtext throughout the story. It factors into the lives of Iris, her mother, Iris's maternal aunt, and the deceased mother of Phoebe Nix (yes, rhymes with Stevie Nicks), a poet of Sylvia Plath-like fame. Phoebe is a great character; I picture Parker Posie with a buzz cut. Phoebe's mother committed suicide at the height of her success. There's a connection between Iris and Phoebe's parents, and that's one of the mysteries of the story. Phoebe is certain that marriage and motherhood destroyed her artistic mother (her suicide has since been attributed to post-partum depression); Iris wonders if the same is true of her mother, although her mom died in a hotel fire on Coney Island. The legend of the Selkie is the folktale-metaphor throughout the story, showing what happens when women sacrifice their art and identity to please men.

I'm not terribly thrilled with Iris's retelling of the Selkie legend, which is placed at the beginning of each chapter as excerpts from her mother's work. But there's a heartbreakingly beautiful telling of the Japanese folktale, the Crane Wife on page 64. A Japanese rendering of the universal "wife must sacrifice all for her husband" theme, this tragic folktale will leave you in tears. It's thoughtfully woven in as a homework assignment from one of Iris's students. My thanks to Carol Goodman for sharing this wonderful folktale with me. If she included the whole Iris-as-writing-instructor part just to share this exquisite little piece with the reader, it was 100% worth it.

No sooner does the plot thicken in one area of the story than Goodman adds a new, unpredicted twist to generate greater intrigue and momentum. Not as atmospheric and closely knit as Lake of Dead Languages, but a respectable follow-up. Goodman hit her stride halfway through this book, and I hope she continues it with her next effort.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Seduction of Water" is a novel I came across a while after I read Carol Goodman's "The Lake of Dead Languages", the latter one of my favorite novels to date for its potent imagery, school-based stories of past and present, and careful character interactions molded into a tight mystery/suspense.

"The Seduction of Water" has an interesting premise regarding a woman named Iris Greenfeder, who decides to publish the story of a tale her mother, a published author, had once told Iris as a little girl. The piece gathers the attention of a literary agent, who suggests the existence of another manuscript that Iris's mother may have written in the time before her death. Iris returns to the Hotel Equinox, where she grew up, to find clues to the manuscript and recover information about her mother's death.

I like Iris's narrative voice and it was very easy to follow her thoughts throughout the work. As constructive criticism, however, I think it took a while for the novel to hit the primary mystery. I would say that this was a give and take criticism for me - on one hand I appreciated the development and the care taken to set the background and atmosphere (especially the bits of romance peppered through the story), but on the other, I didn't like how long it took for the story to hit its full stride. It seemed slower than the progression of "The Lake of Dead Languages," and there were many characters to keep up with, some of them stood out very well (Aidan - whose name I love!, Hedda, and Joseph were among a few) while others were either not developed enough or were introduced in the story a little too late to care about them as much.

I loved the fairy tale dynamic/theme through the story, even in the beginning where Iris's students were telling their assigned tales. It gave the book a mystical tone at times, and Goodman's diction and attention to detail further emphasizes this merit. However, I felt that the excerpts of the Selkie's story were a bit much towards the end - I understood that it was meant to parallel events in the story, but I saw it as more of an overemphasis and it would have been communicated better if it were more subtle in description.

Overall, I enjoyed this novel, and would say that I'm apt to read it again. I'm looking forward to reading more of Carol Goodman's works in the future.

Overall: 3.5/5

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

ahhhhhhh....take me away! excellent!

[Kitty | MyCuriousReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carol Goodman writes with a sensuous pen.
Her writing is as fluid as a ripple in a pond.
The Seduction of Water has well developed characters and an intriguing plot.
Intelligently written by a poetic hand.

I would definitely recommended this book.

[Ashley *Booksbrewsandbarks* · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautifully written story but why so convoluted? I get that the author wanted a true mystery to come out of the novel but towards the end, there were just too many twists and turns and too many storylines weaves together where the ending lost the impact I was expecting. The first part of the book was breathtaking and I loved every second of it. By the third part, I found myself having to re-read entire chapters and flip back pages because there was so many elements to keep track of. It saddens me only because there were so many factors that could have been redeeming. I am still looking forward to reading the author's other novels as I have heard great things and I do believe her actual style of writing is so intriguing and well crafted. I just hope the other novels hold up in their entirety.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books of all times, this is a kind a mystery with a lovely atmosphere: beyond the mystery, there is the halcyon life at a bygone hotel; a beautiful love story involving the narrator; also the mesmerizing fantasy tales intertwined in the plot.
The story is told is a such a way that we really identify with the characters. A great read!

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

There's a good story in here somewhere, full of lovely writing and interesting fairy tales and poignant themes of family legacy, but stumbling as it does over its own awkward pacing and muffled as it is under the unrelenting egotism of its protagonist, you'd never guess.

[Carmen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh

Before I purchased this book, I read a sample. I liked the sample so much that I purchased the book immediately. It’s too bad the entire book did not read as well as the beginning.

I skipped most all the fantasy segments the author made part of the story. These were part of a book series that had been written by the protagonist’s mother, who had died in a mysterious accident. I don’t care much for fantasy, but this particular fantasy was impossible for me to follow.

I was at 74% of the book when I was surprised by the action sequence. I even double$checked to make sure I was correct. The action sequence does not occur until two-thirds of the book have gone by the wayside.

I wish she had skipped it altogether because it was so contrived and so cliché you knew immediately who the bad guy was… And who it wasn’t.

Normally, this is one star book. However there are two things that earn an extra star. One would be the beginning couple of chapters and the really good writing that they contain. Secondly, there are a couple of sentences (that I will go back and highlight and add to the notes on goodreads) where the protagonist meets her romantic interest and it begins to rain. The few sentences that describe them coming together are some of the best I’ve read.

Still, the talent is there. If I were this author, I’d find a better story and line editor and slow it down. Tap into the really good writing (that does exist) and publish when it reads like your sample. Just my two cents.

[Marne Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the previous novel I read by Carol Goodman, but this one was in a whole different category. Certainly it helped when I realized one of the settings, the Hotel Equinox in upstate New York, was really a fictitious version of my beloved Mohonk Mountain House. I always get a thrill whenever I realize a book I've happened upon is based on Mohonk, and this was no exception. But even if that connection wasn't there, I still would have loved this story. The mystery itself is not that much to write home about (I guessed both of the "twists" hundreds of pages before I was supposed to), but the writing and the love story are both enchanting, and I was completely transported during the time I was reading it. I'm so glad I found this, and I'll be reading more of Goodman's work in the future.

[Dianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, I am calling a Goodman book "excessive." In fact, my review for her "The Sea of Lost Girls" could be used for this book. They both turned into somewhat of a disappointing read; this one because of an elaborate tangled plot that contained a lot of coincidences. An Irish folk story of the selkie, stolen artwork, missing jewelry, missing manuscript, betrayals and deceptions all contribute to this multifaceted mystery. So, while the book did keep me reading to the end, I just kind of lost interest in who did what. *Side note: the author weaves a very short but beautiful retelling of the Japanese folk story, The Crane Wife, into one of the chapters.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like to think of Carol Goodman's books as V.C. Andrews for people with advanced degrees. There's a good, soapy mystery, lots of shocking revelations from the past, and an insane amount of coincidences. This time, the coincidences were just too much. Still a fun read, but it tested the bounds of plausibility just a bit too much.

[Kathy Buys · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing and captivating

[mal h · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love Carol Goodman's writing... so atmospheric, so many layers to the mystery. I will read anything she writes. I'm glad I started out with the Lake of Dead Languages, though, because the pacing on this book definitely would have been a struggle for me if I wasn't already in love with the way Goodman writes. Always a pleasure. I will read anything of hers I can get my hands on.

[Ami Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Lisa H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started out loving this book, but by about 2/3 of the way through I fell out of love and nearly into boredom. My very shallow analysis: it kept feeling like there was more to the story that would be revealed, but when the time came ------ not so much.

The narrator, Iris Greenfeder, is a part-time college instructor and sometime doctoral candidate who teaches writing to several different audiences: art school students, a group of adults with limited English proficiency, and a class of inmates in a state prison. Working with her ESL students, she reads to them an essay she has written about a favorite fairy tale, one told to her as a child by her mother, and challenges them to write about a folk tale from their own culture, prompting from them a level of engagement and excitement she has not anticipated. As Iris presents the same writing assignment to her other classes, the topic proves to hold greater meaning for all of them: the art students are inspired not only to write but to create artworks from the themes of their chosen stories, and one of the prisoners connects with her over the assignment, on a more personal level than is perhaps wise. At the same time, Iris's own story dredges up unresolved questions from the past, leading her to return to the upstate Hotel Equinox, where she was raised, to investigate the death of her mother, Katherine Morrisey, a fantasy author whose bedtime stories were taken from her books - and which may be thinly veiled excerpts from her mysterious life prior to arriving at the Equinox.

Right about this point, things start to get a little too convenient/coincidental for me - Iris's new "editor" (publisher of a small literary magazine) happens to be related to a major hotel mogul, who steps in to save the aging Hotel Equinox just as its elderly owners decide to close; one of the art students decides to recreate a piece of jewelry from Katherine Morrisey's books, which happens to closely resemble a missing 15th century treasure; within a few hours of beginning her investigations, Iris stumbles over a newspaper article that provides the exact information needed to direct her to the next branch in her mother's story (anyone who's ever spent time doing historical research with a microfiche reader knows how unlikely that is)...

There are also some parallels between the various fairytales and the book's action that were painted a little too broadly for my liking - e.g., Tam Lin is saved when the woman who loves him is willing to hold onto him, no matter what form the Elf Queen changes him into, including setting him aflame - likewise, Iris hangs onto Aidan, despite shifting perceptions of who he really is, not to mention the likelihood she'll get "burned" by their relationship.

All of that said, Carol Goodman's use of language is lovely; I mostly enjoyed the book, esp. the descriptions of the land around the Equinox, and the whimsical constructions designed by Katherine and executed by the hotel's gardener/general handyman (also Iris's unofficial godfather); interesting characters, attention to detail, plus a healthy dash of Celtic myth, which is also a good thing IMHO. I don't think there was a single instance where my qualms with the plot (or, for that matter, an awkwardly written phrase) kicked me out of the story, so for all of my kvetching, I'd still recommend it.

[Rebekkila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, just not as much as I liked "The Lake of Dead Languages". She is really great about creating an atmosphere that is slightly tense and menacing at the same time. With both books I could tell how they would end I liked the way the story unfolded in TLoDL much better. Maybe if I had not read the two books so close together I would have rated this one higher. I think it is suffering from the comparison.

The book was about how a woman weaved a story about her own life while incorporating Irish folklore. My dad's uncle's are Irish and I remember their accents and I could here the stories being told with their voices. The protagonist had the same name as on of my dad's aunts also. The stories of the Irish reminded me of my dad's family.

I liked the Irish folk tales. And if the hotel where much of the action takes place is based on a real place I would love to see it, it sounded as if the scenery and grounds were breathtaking. As I mentioned before the atmosphere she created really added to the story for me. Some houses hold memories for us much more than others, and in this book I felt like I new what Iris was feeling.

What I didn't like about the book is the way Iris just takes everything in stride. I think some revelations about your mother being a questionable person might throw you for a loop, but not Iris nothing fazes her. Another thing I did not like about the book was the ending was so neat. Even her pessimist introverted Aunt Sophie finds a love match. Why do authors do this? Are they nearing the end thinking, "ok, I need to start pairing up all the singles before I end this." Not once in the book was I thinking I need to see Aunt Sophie in love. It was so random.

[Amy]

I've been reading some pretty dark suspense/mystery books, and my soul felt rather battered. This book was a wonderful antidote to hard-core realism -- a story within a story, mystery, and, despite some violence in it, a gentle tale of a daughter in search of her mother, or of her mother's story, both personal and a manuscript written before the mother died twenty years before. I loved the setting in the Hudson Valley, which made me want to return there for a visit, if only to catch that light once more before I die. I wish I could have seen the Hotel Equinox in its heyday, and to have seen the gazebo/chuppas built by Joseph. Thanks to Rebekkila for sending this book along to me. I'm going to leave my copy in Palo Alto, California, while I'm out here for our son's Stanford graduation, for someone to find via BookCrossing.

[Stacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a new author for me and I did quite enjoy this story. Iris lost her mother in a fire when she was a young girl. Now an adult and unhappy with her life, Iris decides to make some changes and in doing so discovers there may be more to the story of her mother's death than originally came to light. My favorite part was how the Irish fairy tale slowly unfolds in the novel and how it interweaves with Iris slowly uncovering the missing pieces to the puzzle. I also enjoyed how this story took place in the Adirondacks, which are local to me. I would recommend this one and I will be checking out more of this author's books.

[Rozette · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy this book, whatever mood I'm in. I enjoy the overall story and I absolutely adore the fairytale aspect and how it plays a part in this book.

However, I will say that I don't particularly like the writing style of the author- she overstates things unnecessarily, the main character is absolutely pathetic until the last maybe fifty pages of the book (I can't abide characters who just allow things to happen to them and then bemoan their status, which they can change). But the supporting cast is enjoyable, the twist was good, and overall, I do come back to this story, so that's good.

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A novel about searching for the truth and family secrets. Iris Greenfeder is a struggling writer who, after selling an essay about her mother (a semi-famous fantasy writer who died under mysterious circumstances and never finished the third book of her trilogy), is commissioned to write a memoir about her mother and takes a job at the hotel in upstate New York where they lived. Deliberately paced with well described settings, I enjoyed this book for the most part but did think there were a few too many coincidences that helped the plot move forward.

[DeNae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this because my three older kids read a book by her and looked on our library web site for more by this author, only to find that she's only written one chapter book for youth, but many for adults. They really wanted me to read one because they loved her writing so much. I agreed, and was so pleasantly surprised by the building mystery, the fairy tale background, and the relationships explored. I love that I am getting book recommendations from my kids!