Finding Casey

August 20, 2012
Characters from 2010's Solomon's Oak reappear in Mapson's engaging new novel. Glory Vigil is a happily married, middle-aged mother living in Santa Feâher adopted daughter, Juniper, is home from college for Thanksgiving, and Glory is unexpectedly expecting. Though Juniper is adjusting to her first serious relationship, she still wrestles with the loss of her sister, Casey, who disappeared years before Glory and husband Joseph took Juniper in. Elsewhere in New Mexico, Laurel Smith, fearing for the safety of her sick six-year-old daughter, Aspen, has just fled the farm where a charismatic charlatan dominates his followers with threats and religious brainwashing. As Juniper struggles with coming into her own as a young woman, and Laurel considers a life beyond the strictures of the farm, their tales intertwine in startling ways, leaving all parties irrevocably changed. Mapson paints a touching portrait of parallel lives, and while readers will likely spot the twist from a ways down the road, Juniper, Glory, and Laurel's stories are nevertheless moving. Set against the beautiful backdrop of the burnished New Mexican desert, Mapson's portrait of familial ties and personal discovery shouldn't be missed. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider.

October 1, 2012
Mapson follows the ever-so-uplifting characters she developed in Solomon's Oak (2010) to their new home in Sante Fe, N.M., where they face past demons as they build their future. Middle-aged newlyweds Glory and Joseph--she met him after the death of her beloved first husband in California--have moved to Joseph's hometown to be close to the disabled former policeman's large extended family. They have moved into a house that they love, although it may be haunted by a ghost they have named Dolores. Glory's adopted daughter, Juniper, precocious and no longer even the teensiest bit rebellious or angry, has begun college at 16 and, driven to excel as an anthropology major, is dismissive of superficial dorm social life. Juniper is still haunted by the childhood disappearance of her sister, Casey, a tragedy that destroyed her family and would have destroyed Juniper if Glory and Joseph had not embraced her so warmly. Now, Glory is pregnant at 41; Joseph is completing a cookbook of New Mexican/Latino recipes; and Juniper is smitten with a spoiled rich boy from the East. Meanwhile, on a commune in Espanola, 26 miles outside Santa Fe, a young mother named Laurel runs away from her creepy, abusive "husband," Seth, to get her critically ill child to the hospital with the help of a local Indian potter. At the hospital, a kindly social worker befriends Laurel and gradually gets her to remember her tragic past. By the time Juniper comes to Espanola to research native pottery with a charmingly geeky teaching assistant, the commune has been deserted. Juniper discovers the pot she is studying is not native. Revelations ensue. Readers drawn in by Mapson's warmhearted style should not overlook how rigidly she divides the line between good and evil, right and wrong.

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May 1, 2012

Glory is newly married, newly pregnant at 41, and happy in the Santa Fe home she shares with husband Joseph and adopted daughter Juniper. But Juniper still recalls a sister named Casey who disappeared. Featuring characters from Solomon's Oak, winner of the American Library Association's 2011 RUSA Award for Women's Fiction.

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