Her Father's House
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
Donald and Lillian were never a match made in heaven, but they have a child, Tina, and she is the love of Donald's heart.
For her he would give up everything: his home, his work and even his freedom. When his marriage fails, he does just that.
A chance meeting with a stranger on a train changes his life - and his daughter's - in ways he could never have imagined.
From her earliest years Tina is exceptional, a brilliant student and a joyous person with a loving spirit. At university she falls in love with Gilbert who, three years older than she, graduates from law school just as she is about to enter medical school.
Together they go to New York, where they learn a truth about Donald that shatters Tina's regard for the father who has for so long protected and cherished her.
When a terrible lie has been told for love, can it be forgiven?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Usually a crowd-pleaser, Plain (Looking Back, etc.) sleepwalks through her latest novel, in which old-fashioned style clashes uncomfortably with contemporary content. Donald Wolfe, a 25-year-old North Dakota native, comes to New York City in 1968 to practice law; five years later, he meets and falls for the captivating Lillian Morris. Marrying in haste, he repents big time when Lillian reveals herself to be disturbingly erratic. After she becomes pregnant, the two divorce, but when Donald judges his daughter, Bettina, to be neglected, he kidnaps her. Taking to the road, he invents a new past for himself and adopts the name Jim, renaming his daughter Laura. Many years later, the truth is revealed and Jim stands trial for kidnapping. Will Laura, now a young woman, be able to forgive her father his deception, which he claims was for her own good? An unbelievably na ve attitude on the part of young Donald and creakingly stilted dialogue all around make it difficult to suspend disbelief; meanwhile, the dated language will have readers expecting descriptions of porkpie hats. Preachy double standards regarding parenting will be unappreciated by modern readers, and there are a few glaring anachronisms (music CDs in the '70s?). When Donald/Jim, sanctimonious from start to finish, asserts late in the novel that "Running away is never the answer," readers will rightly wonder whether this man has been paying attention to his own life story. More importantly, has the author? A pass, even for completists. National advertising.
