cover image A Clear Blue Sky

A Clear Blue Sky

Barbara Whitnell. St. Martin's Press, $23.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-312-13945-2

Her favorite setting--Cornwall--and her familiar domestic concerns--watersheds of life and generations--dress this latest family drama from Whitnell (The View from the Summerhouse). Two sisters and their families vacation at what initially seems a perfect Cornish getaway cottage. Organization-freak Kate Sheridan and her more laid-back sister, Lynn Bryant, each face a life-changing decision. Kate, a relationship counselor, must decide whether her husband Oliver's affair will wreck their marriage; Lynn may lose her Leo if she decides not to support his move to a job he desperately wants. Their daughters, on the brink of young womanhood, find painful new maturity, and their much younger sons, particularly Lynn and Leo's bookish James, encounter more dangerous experiences. For this seemingly idyllic house hides a murderous past. From neighbors they learn of events years earlier, which mesh with the counterpointing story of elderly Ruth Kernow, who has returned to town after years in psychiatric care. Ruth does find the enlightenment she seeks, but it pushes her over the edge once more. Whitnell evokes the spell of the gorgeous Cornish countryside, and her characters have their convincing moments. But her mixture of domestic melodrama and suspense is ultimately awkward, rendering the novel neither as thrilling as it intends to be nor as moving as some of Whitnell's previous efforts. (Jan.)