Postcards from Berlin

Starred review from June 15, 2003
On the surface, Catriona (Cat) Lydgate enjoys a contented, middle-class life with a devoted husband, two lovely daughters, an elegant home, and a room to call her own: an attic where she dabbles at art. Things begin to unwind when Daisy, her younger daughter, comes down with the flu, which develops into a mysterious, malingering illness that causes her to stop eating and leaves her lethargic and achy. As specialist after specialist can find no physical explanation for the illness, they begin to suspect psychological causes, the likeliest being Munchausen by proxy, a condition induced by the mother (who has often had a troubled past) as an attention-seeking device. As Cat learns more about the disease, she becomes increasingly secretive about her own difficult upbringing in a notorious group home, where she was abandoned by an alcoholic mother at age 13. This is a gripping medical mystery from an assured writer who could be the next Minette Walters. Highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/03.]-Barbara Love, Kingston Frontenac P.L., Kingston, Ont.

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2003
A popular novelist in Great Britain, Leroy finally gets her chance in this country with the story of a woman whose hidden past intrudes on her present happiness and threatens her daughter's well-being.

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.