Of Words and Music by Lynda Fitzgerald
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Product Details
- Pub. Date: March 2009
- Publisher: Gale Group
- Format: Hardcover, 300pp
- ISBN-13: 9781594147760
- ISBN: 1594147760
Publishers Weekly
Fitzgerald tells the saccharine tale of a 12-year-old girl and the grandmother she never knew she had. Lilah Kimball is a 60-year-old widow who lived by everyone else's rules, and when her estranged daughter dies, she's the only living relative to her now-orphaned granddaughter, Bethany. Thrown together by circumstance, the two, having never met, start out on rocky ground: Lilah is bitter from a life of bad choices and horrified that her son is following the footsteps of her late-husband. Bethany is distraught with grief over her mother's death and can't understand the history that drove Lilah and her mother apart. By building a relationship on their mutual love of piano, the two slowly bring each other back to life, even as a small plot wrinkle surfaces that vaguely threatens to undermine their bond. The simplistic storytelling and psychology don't do the predictable narrative any favors.
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Customer Reviews
Quality Family Drama a Must Read!by JacquelineSeewald
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October 08, 2009: I strongly recommend this novel. This is a family drama and about a tragedy of miscommunication. It is a novel of loss and redemption, very moving, very powerful. Lilah Kimball is the key character. She has gone through life as a submissive daughter and wife. Now at sixty, she awakens to the fact that she lost her daughter and son by allowing an emotionally abusive husband control her. The worm turns.
Lilah finds herself, and in so doing, embraces several wonderful friendships, most of all, a granddaughter who is now a homeless orphan. Each key character is realistic, well-developed.This is an engaging redemption family dramaby harstan
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January 26, 2009:
Wealthy widow, sexagenarian Lilah Kimball has never recovered from when her late martinet spouse told their daughter Elizabeth to never come back if she marries beneath her. So when social worker Felicity Greenlea informs her that Elizabeth is dead three months ago from a car accident, she hides her grief; as she always prayed for reconciliation. She also learns she has a twelve year old granddaughter Bethany Freemont whose father died two years ago after suffering with leukemia. Although she prefers to say no, encouraged by her best friend (and housekeeper) Marabet, Lilah agrees to temporary house the child until a paternal relative is located.
Lilah hides from Bethany who hates her grandmother for not being there for her mother. Marabet sees a chance for Lilah to regain her life lost fourteen years ago. However, her forty year old son Charles, a chip off the dictatorial block of his late dad, wants the brat gone. As Lilah and Bethany begin to bond playing the piano together, secrets from Athens and Atlanta haunt everyone.
This is an engaging redemption family drama as Lilah has a chance to indirectly fix the mistake of her life if she can take a chance on loving someone again. The cast is strong . Marabet is a terrific BFF who is there for her buddy, but refuses to pull punches. Bethany is a delightful charmer who goes from loathing to loving her grandma. Charles? wife Lese goes from mouse to frightened lioness while Charles shows few if any redeeming qualities and fans will hiss him with what he did years ago to his mom and late sister. Although overwrought at times especially a late unnecessary runaway scene, fans will enjoy this fine character driven drama with a fabulous final twist that defines what a family truly is.
Harriet Klausner
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