Around Again

by Suzanne Strempek Shea

Summoned by her ailing Uncle Pal to operate his pony ring for a final season, a reluctant Robyn Panek returns to the beloved Massachusetts farm of her childhood, hoping to put to rest the dark events that had shattered her childhood more than twenty years earlier and uncover the mystery of her friend Lucy's sudden disappearance.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

320 pages, Hardcover

First published June 26, 2001

About the author

Suzanne Strempek Shea is the author of five novels: Selling the Lite of Heaven, Hoopi Shoopi Donna, Lily of the Valley, Around Again, and Becoming Finola, published by Washington Square Press. She has also written three memoirs, Songs From a Lead-lined Room: Notes - High and Low - From My Journey Through Breast Cancer and Radiation; Shelf Life: Romance, Mystery, Drama and Other Page-Turning Adventures From a Year in a Bookstore; and Sundays in America: A Yearlong Road Trip in Search of Christian Faith, all published by Beacon Press.

She co-wrote 140 Years of Providential Care: The Sisters of Providence of Holyoke, Massachusetts with her husband, Tom Shea, and with author/historian Michele P. Barker. This is Paradise, a book about Mags Riordan, founder of the Billy Riordan Memorial Clinic in the African nation of Malawi, was published in April by PFP Publishing.

Her sixth novel, Make a Wish But Not for Money, about a palm reader in a dead mall, will be published by PFP Publishing on Oct. 5, 2014.

Suzanne’s essay Crafty Critters, about her lifelong love of knitting, a craft she learned in the “Crafty Critters” 4-H club of Palmer, Mass., back in childhood, is included in the recently released anthology Knitting Yarns, Writers on Knitting, edited by Ann Hood.

Winner of the 2000 New England Book Award, which recognizes a literary body of work's contribution to the region, Suzanne began writing fiction in her spare time while working as reporter for the Springfield (Massachusetts) Newspapers and The Providence (Rhode Island) Journal.

Her freelance journalism and fiction has appeared in magazines and newspapers including Yankee, The Bark, Golf World, The Boston Globe, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Organic Style and ESPN the Magazine. She was a regular contributor to Obit magazine.

Suzanne is a member of the faculty at the University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast MFA program in creative writing and is writer-in-residence and director of the creative writing program at Bay Path College in Longmeadow, Mass. She has taught in the MFA program at Emerson College and in the creative writing program at the University of South Florida. She also has taught in Ireland, at the Curlew Writers Conferences in Howth and Dingle, and in Dingle via the Stonecoast Ireland residency.

She lives in Bondsville, Mass., with Tommy Shea, most recently the senior foreign editor at The National newspaper in Abu Dhabi, and their dogs Tiny and Bisquick

Reviews

[Mary]

I gave this book only 3 stars because it was weird…I’ve never read a book like this. It was very well written and was mesmerizing. You really had to read every word to be able to understand what was happening. I was happy with the ending even though I wish I knew more of Robyn’s life when she left the farm for 22 years.

[Michelle]

(3.5 stars) Robyn has returned to her uncle’s farm to fulfil his wish that the pony ring is run for one last summer. As the word gets out about the ponies through a newspaper article, many return or bring their children for a ride. The past comes back in a different way when Lucy Dragon also comes back. Lucy came for one summer and was at the epicenter of a terrible event that changed Robyn’s world. Her return leads to questions about the past and her path to redemption. The story unfolds with glimpses of the past and how Robyn must work to settle her uncle’s estate now that he cannot return. As she lets go of the past through the possessions in the house, she needs to find her own way forward through forgiveness for Lucy and for her first love, Frankie.

[Treasure Island Books]

More of a mystery than literary fiction. Robyn spends every summer with her uncle and aunt on their farm with a brace of ponies. Robyn's job is to help care for the ponies and monitor local kids as they ride around a circle. The year Robyn is 17, her aunt introduces her to another 17-year-old, Lucy, who will be spending the summer as well. Unfortunately, Robyn overhears a conversation about Lucy's mental health that makes her feel wary. As the summer progresses, the world of Robyn, her aunt and uncle, and everybody in their community is shaken to the core by Lucy's actions. Years later, Robyn returns to learn what actually happened.

[FekNeim]

It was a good book but not a great book. The back and forth between the present and the past was a little jerky and although I didn't have any trouble keeping track of which scenes went with which timer period, the transitions were a little too abrupt. A reader could easily skip the middle chapters and not lose the thread and still enjoy the ending. The end was not as trite as I was expecting but not as wonderful as I could have hoped. The author seemed to take the easy exit rather than a more impactful conclusion. It would be a good beach read or bathtub book.

[Marilyn]

In this very turbulent time I really needed an upbeat book. This one filled that bill. This was chosen for my book club partially because it is a local Massachusetts setting. The area around the Quabbin Reservoir has a fascinating history which was a good setting for this book. Definitely an enjoyable read.

[Justyna]

DNF (Did Not Finish) - got to about 45% through and just couldn't do it - still haven't gotten to the mystery part mentioned in the summary and the scenes were just too dragged out. Reading the book just felt like a chore.

[Julia]

3.5 stars

[Sue]

Simply wonderful. It's made extra-special for me because the author is local to western MA, and sets this story in Ware, referencing a lot of actual places and lore. Also, because I'm half Polish, I appreciate the stories she writes that incoporate Polish-American life, which this one does especially well.

[Leanne Sarubbi]

I would have liked this book better if at times it hadn't felt like the author was writing for children. Some of the descriptions felt somewhat condescending. I think the author should expect more out of her readers. Overall, it was okay. An enjoyable, light read.

[Margaret]

I loved this book! Robyn seemed like a real person and I loved her relationship with the ponies. And Pal & Victory reminded me of relatives of mine. The plot had some good twists & turns and I thought the ending was very touching.

[Sarah]

I really liked this book and the descriptions, but I might be partial to it since I live in the area the book is set in and can really picture the setting. I thought the ending was unexpected and interesting (also probably unrealistic, but lots of books are)

[Rianna Rowsell]

I'm not sure how to categorise this book. I can't say I enjoyed it, but I couldn't put it down. It certainly made me cry. It was a compelling story, unfolded slowly, told beautifully. I want a pony!

[Kelly]

I like Shea. Her books never disappoint me. This is about second chances. We all know the story well, but Shea writes sweetly.

[Tara Rugg]

This was ok...but I didn't enjoy it as much as Becoming Finola. I had a hard time getting through it.

[Angela]

This has to have the best ending I have ever read in a book! This is the first book I have read from this Polish author and will read more.

[Susan]

Essex Library Book Sale 6/1/10

[Michele]

This was a good book. It took me a while to get into it, but after I did I couldn't stop.

[Dawn]

Finished book. Not that great can hardly remember the details.

[Sue]

Really 3.5 stars but an enjoyable read. Somewhat predictable but a meaningful story. Especially a fan of Shea's narrative and scene depiction.

[Gail]

Great story! Loved this book! Nice summer read.

[Wendy]

Small story about Robyn, who loved her family's farm in Massachusetts, where once a "crazy" girl boarded and did something that changed Robyn's life forever.

[Dee Kohler]

Sweet little story takes place on a New England farm in the 1970s. About childhood, betrayals, disappointments, redemption and forgiveness

[Amanda]

Another great one filled with scenes of beautiful New England.

[Jenny]

I liked this book, there were a few twists that kept it interesting.