In Clara's Hands
A Novel
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In this follow-up to Olshan's acclaimed debut novel, the unforgettable Clara, a tough and deeply caring Jamaican housekeeper, returns to help a troubled friend solve a mystery and deal with tragic loss
Ever since childhood, Will Kaplan has trusted one person—his family's Jamaican housekeeper, Clara—to help him get through the pain and tragedy that have all too frequently invaded his life. When his brother, Danny, died suddenly, Clara was there to offer strength and comfort. When Will was confined to a mental hospital, she gave him hope and purpose. Now he needs her wisdom and counsel as never before in the wake of a horrific plane crash that may have taken the life of Will's dear friend Marie, the mother of his former lover, Peter.
When he learns that Marie may not actually have been aboard the doomed flight, Will is suddenly faced with an altogether different dilemma: how to find Marie, who apparently vanished while on her way to see him. It will mean an uneasy reunion with Peter, who's embroiled in his own family crisis. But if he places his damaged heart and troubled soul in Clara's loving and capable hands once again, Will might just weather the emotional storm that is brewing all around him and emerge a stronger person because of it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Olshan brings back the warm and waggish Jamaican housekeeper of his successful 1985 debut, Clara's Heart, but fans of that novel (or of Whoopi Goldberg's movie version) may be disappointed by how little page time she receives here. The novel centers on Will Kaplan (the hero of Olshan's Nightswimmer), who was raised by housekeeper Clara in a New York City suburb in the 1970s and is now a cartographer living in Burlington, Vt. He has befriended neighbor Marie Claire Arcenaux, the mother of his former lover Peter. The novel opens with Will learning that a jet has just crashed off of Long Island. Marie was scheduled for that flight, and Will assumes that she is dead. He soon learns that she was not on the plane, but the fact still remains that no one has seen or heard from her in days. Trying to unravel the mystery, Will calls Peter, who's in California supporting his sister, Grace as she undergoes treatment for Hodgkins disease. Will also asks Clara to come up to Burlington to help him find Marie. The woman's disappearance recalls for Will the trauma of his older brother's fatal skiing accident 20 years earlier, and also makes him realize how much he regrets breaking up with Peter. Olshan moves back and forth between Will, Peter, Clara and Marie's point of view. He probes their relationships sensitively, though the abundance of deaths, heartache and dramatic revelations sometimes has a made-for-TV feel. The witty, unpredictable Clara lights up the page; her ebullience is a welcome contrast to her fellow characters, who are uniformly paralyzed by the past.
