Rose House
Tina Ann Forkner
WaterBrook, May 19 2009, $13.99
ISBN: 1400073596
Four years ago, Lillian Diamon learns that her husband Robert and their twin daughters Sheyenne and Lee died in an automobile accident. Lillian believes her sister Geena was the cause as she was having an affair with Robert and vanished just after the accident. Five days after burying her family, Lillian traveled to Rose House in La Rosaleda, California. There she sees in an art gallery a painting of Rose House, dubbed Beauty and the Beast Within from an anonymous artist; in front of the stately mansion is Lillian in all her grief.
In the present Lillian takes time off from the restaurant she works at to travel to Rose House and to learn more about the picture. She has not spoken to Geena since the tragedy as her sister knows she hates her. In La Rosaleda, when she meets artist Truman, she wonders if he painted her picture while he thinks their encounter is a private personal moment like the one he inadvertently intruded on four years ago. Meanwhile Geena desperately tries to reach her to warn her
Much of the profound character study story line is a metaphor based on how an individual sees his or her life as a portrait painted by many other people until tragedy pulls away the various masks that hides the inner soul. A spin re the car accident adds excitement to the plot but detracts from the painting concept as if someone exploded bright red onto a soft pastel. Still Lillian is a diamond (with a d) as she is summed up with the family photos at the restaurant in which everyone else have loved ones on display while all she has is ROSE HOUSE.
Harriet Klausner
No comments:
Post a Comment