Charlotte Vale-Allen was born in Toronto and lived in England from 1961 to 1964 where she worked as a television actress and singer. She returned to Toronto briefly, performing as a singer and in cabaret revues until she emigrated to the United States in 1966.
Shortly after her marriage to Walter Allen in 1970 she began writing and sold her first novel Love Life in 1974. Prior to this book's publication she contracted to do a series of paperback originals for Warner Books, with the result that in 1976 three of her books appeared in print.
Her autobiography, the acclaimed Daddy's Girl, was actually the first book she wrote but in 1971 it was deemed too controversial by the editors who read it. It wasn't until 1980, after she'd gained success as a novelist, that the groundbreaking book was finally published.
One of Canada's most successful novelists, with over seven million copies sold of her 30+ novels, Ms. Allen's books have been published in all English-speaking countries, in Braille, and have been translated into more than 20 languages.
In her writing she tries to deal with issues confronting women, being informative while at the same time offering a measure of optimism. "My strongest ability as a writer is to make women real, to take you inside their heads and let you know how they feel, and to make you care about them."
A film buff and an amateur photographer, Allen enjoys foreign travel. She finds cooking and needlework therapeutic, and is a compulsive player of computer Solitaire. The mother of an adult daughter, since 1970 she has made her home in Connecticut.
This was the continuation of Charlotte Allen's "Parting Gifts" and as wonderful a novel as any other of her's I've read.
From back cover:
"After years of self-imposed reclusiveness, Lucinda Hunter has started moving out into the world. She has found her family and her isolation has ended, largely thanks to Katanya Taylor, who ventured into her garden five years earlier and beckoned to Lucinda to come outside. Now a feisty, somewhat irreverent teenager, Katanya comes with her mother and grandmother to spend weekends with Lucinda-their inital connection stronger than ever.
Everything is going well. Yet Lucinda fears she will never have sufficient time to spend with her very elderly grandmother; that she will never be able to absorb all the details of the family history. She is racing against time. She is happier, though, than she's been since childhood. And meeting Eli Carter, her grandmother's doctor, presents an unexpected and challenging set of new circumstances.
Then, on September 11, 2001, the world is cataclysmically changed. In the aftermath, faced with the shattering repercussions that affect everyone and everything Lucinda knows, she is pulled, finally, entirely, into a new reality."
God, I totally forgot what this book was about. Had to look on amazon to get the recap. This was a weird one that didn’t make too much sense and took me a while to get into. Women has a famous mother, who is long dead, finds her father’s family and they welcome her with open arms, except one member, but she dies quickly. She someone “adopts” some family from NYC (Women lives in CT) and they come up and stay with her on the weekend. It’s a family of 3 generation of women. She is also very good friends with her neighbours son, who is just a little kid, but doesn’t like his mother too much. Someone from her father’s family introduces her to a man and they start a relationship. September 11th happens (which prompted me to pick this book up in the first place) and it effects the family from NYC and the neighbour a lot, as the neighbours ex-husband was in one of the towers and died. One of the women from the family in NYC was also in the tower, but survived, but her daughter was greatly effected by it and started acting out. Stuff happens, but it all wraps up nicely in the end. This was is really hard to explain, as none of the people really connected all that much, except through this one women and it’s hard to explain why.
There is a lot going on in this story. I enjoyed the characters as they had gotten older and moving through life's challenges. Eli is a wonderful asset, along with Elise and her family. I liked the first book better, but this is still worth the read to see the progress and life changes in Lucinda and a good ending. Thanks to Charlotte Vale Allen for this sequel!
The sequel to Fresh Air - I always enjoy reading how someone achieves their potential. The events of 9/11 form part of the story, and although I cried at eing reminded of that terrible day, it doesn't wallow in pathos. Very good read.