Bittersweet

March 3, 2014
The theme of paradise lost courses through this coming-of-age tale tinged with mystery—Beverly-Whittemore’s solid, if not particularly inspired, third novel, after 2007’s Set Me Free. Self-conscious college scholarship student Mabel Dagmar feels as if she has won the golden ticket when her freshman roommate, Genevra “Ev” Winslow, an impossibly glamorous scion of the gilded Winslow clan, invites her to spend the summer at Winloch, the family’s sprawling estate in Vermont on Lake Champlain. But she soon starts to discover how wrong she is, as with so very much about the Winslows. For all their lean, blond beauty and their designer names, the Winslows—including Birch and Tilde, Ev’s parents; and Ev’s brother Galway, whose attentions encourage Mabel to fantasize about becoming part of the blue-blooded tribe—have more squalid secrets than her own, with theft, rape, and incest the tip of the viceberg. As the increasingly tragic story unfolds, the taste left in the reader’s mouth is more likely to be sour than bittersweet. Agent: Anne Hawkins, John Hawkins & Associates.

April 1, 2014

Beverly-Whittemore captures both the idyllic beauty of a Vermont summer and its dark shadows in her third novel (after The Effects of Light; Set Me Free). Plain featured and plainly named scholarship student Mabel Dagmar catches the intermittent interest of her wealthy college roommate, Genevra "Ev" Winslow. In one moment of weakness, Ev invites Mabel to spend the summer at the Winslow family estate, Winloch. Intended as a distraction to allow Ev more freedom, Mabel takes to Winloch immediately, befriending Ev's sister and eccentric aunt, and developing a romance with Ev's brother, Galway, after an unfortunate first encounter. But at Winloch, reality is not always what it first appears to be, and gothic tangles wind the plot more and more tightly. Mabel, an inveterate secret keeper herself, uncovers the truth behind the Winslow fortune. But should she share what she knows, or adjust her moral center and keep it "in the family" so that she can take her place there as well? VERDICT A slightly wordy but suspenseful tale of corruption and bad behavior among wealthy New Englanders. Readers who enjoy coming-of-age stories featuring dark secrets that affect generations will find much that appeals here.--Melanie Kindrachuk, Stratford P.L., Ont.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2014
Out of place at her elite East Coast college, Mabel Dagmar falls into an unlikely friendship with her blue-blooded roommate, Genevra Ev Winslow, and is invited to spend the summer at Ev's family estate in Vermont. Jumping at the chance to escape her working-class family in Oregon, Mabel enters the world of madras shorts and cocktails on the veranda. The enchantment of a lakeside retreat, steeped in tradition, sweeps Mabel (who now goes by May) off her feet, as does Ev's older brother, Galway. But May has secrets, as do the Winslows, and as May unravels the family's litany of misdeeds, she puts herself in serious danger. Beverly-Whittemore's novel is suspenseful and intriguing, filled with characters who both fit the blue-blood mold and break the stereotypes we all associate with the upper class. Her short chapters, with their cliff-hanger endings, will keep readers turning pages late into the night.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)