Counterpoint

by Isabelle Holland

Kate reluctantly agrees to care for the children of a sister whom she has not seen in twenty years and confronts commitments and emotions long denied in a situation of tightening entanglements and mounting threat

Genres: Gothic

295 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Isabelle Christian Holland (born June 16, 1920 in Basel, Switzerland — died February 9, 2002) was an author of children and adult fiction. Her father was the American Consul in Liverpool, England during WWII. She moved to America in 1940 due to the war. She wrote Gothic novels, adult mysteries, romantic thrillers, and many books for children and young adults. She wrote over 50 books in her lifetime, and was still working at the time of her death at age 81 in New York City.

Two of her novels have been made into movies:

Bump in the Night, 1991,
The Man Without a Face, 1993

Both of these novels deal with issues or allegations of pedophilia.

Reviews

[Sep · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had forgotten how well Ms. Holland did suspense. Took me two nights to read and the first one ran until after midnight.

Kate is guilted into taking care of her estranged step-sister's children due to her sister being quite ill. The situation is complicated because her brother-in-law broke her heart back in the day. This is why Kate and Deborah are estranged.

Ms. Holland plays fair. Our downtrodden heroine is not a totally innocent victim. Kate has had a hard life but she's also made some bad choices. A lot of the book has her healing and she chooses the right partner. (It's fiction so she has 4 choices!)

The children are rude, maddening, secretive and eventually lovable. The best part is that they are not glued to their cell phones. It's 1980 and they weren't invented yet.

[Debi Emerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Isabelle Holland about 40 years ago. I'd long loved the books of Mary Stewart, Phyllis Whitney and Barbara Michaels/Elizabeth Peters so was delighted to find another author of their genre. Somehow, I missed this book. It more than lived up to expectations, and I very much enjoyed it!!

[Susan Logan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not very memorable.