Kennedy's tedious second novel (after The Tin Box
) focuses on Annie Hillman, a mother of two in the middle of a divorce. Her 11-year-old son Eric's rare illness has racked up enormous bills and caused tension in the family, and Luke, her 13-year-old, longs to live with his father, Jack. When Annie loses her job, she moves the brood from Seattle to her hometown, Eagan's Point, Wash. A series of ads purporting to be from an admirer from Annie's past appear in the local paper, making Annie a minor local celebrity and later attracting the attention of a daytime talk show. The search for the ad author's identity is fruitless, but his unconvincing identity is finally revealed on the talk show. Hillman's writing tends toward the banal ("Funny what our minds keep from us.... What we refuse to accept and what we twist around to look like something that's easier to accept"), and many of the situations are too contrived to elicit the emotive reaction the author intends. (Apr.)
