Keeper of the Light

March 2, 1992
With her fourth novel (after Secret Lives ), Chamberlain spins an absorbing tale of romantic obsession and betrayal. Beautiful artist Annie O'Neill is known as St. Anne on North Carolina's Outer Banks for her selfless devotion to any cause that comes down the pike--she's even donated bone marrow to a stranger in need. Her murder leaves her husband, Alec, shattered. Also broken are Olivia Simon, the emergency room physician who tried to save her, and the good doctor's husband, Paul, who idolized the victim. To recapture Paul's love, Olivia begins to emulate Annie in every way, from learning the craft of stained glass to being a good Samaritan. Readers will long to shake the physician, as lovesick Paul is not worth her efforts; this is a man who tells his wife that he can make love to her only if he pretends that she is Annie. As exasperating as these characters are (chief among them the dead goddess), the novel's cache of dark secrets and hidden passions keeps the pages turning. An old lighthouse keeper's climactic revelation adds a final surprise. BOMC alternate.

February 1, 1992
At first blush this resembles nothing more than made-for-TV movie fare. On duty in the emergency room, Olivia Simon puts her career and marriage at risk as she tries to save the life of her husband's lover, Annie O'Neill. But Annie dies, Paul leaves, and Olivia--newly pregnant and under attack by the small Outer Banks community that loved artist and activist Annie--finds that her lifeline is a deepening relationship with Annie's widower Alec. Chamberlain ( Secret Lives, LJ 2/1/91) maintains a delicious tension in the Paul-or-Alec question and lifts this above the standard romance with well-rounded characters and deft plotting as she reveals the past, including secrets held by an aging lighthouse keeper, and who knew what when. Engrossing, satisfying entertainment. BOMC alternate.--Mi chele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Va.

Copyright 1992 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.