Seven Loves

April 3, 2006
May Nilsson, a retired Seattle high school English teacher, looks back on her life through the episodic prism of those she has cherished. At center stage are May's mother, Anna, a fierce and uncompromising 1930s labor organizer, and May's son, Nick, a drug addict who plunges to a pathetic death to avoid arrest. When May was pregnant with Nick in 1960, she feared that his father might not be her husband, but her African-American lover, Nathanael, a high school principal and married father of six sons. May eventually embraces Arne, the penitent policeman who chased Nick to his death in a freezing lake. Loose plotting and overly lyrical language mar Trueblood's debut, but her depiction of May's most complex love, her husband, Cole, is keen and compelling. The pair's intensely passionate bond is evident even in their waning years after a lifetime of loss and betrayal.

May 15, 2006
Trueblood, a contributing editor to the "American Poetry Review", has written a fine debut novel about family, love, and loss. Her story of protagonist May Nilsson is divided into seven sections, each dipping into a different aspect of her full but rocky life. Interweaving the past and present, the author first introduces readers to May's long-suffering husband, Cole, and daughters Vera and Laura. We then learn that May had an affair with Nathanael, a high school principal and father of six sons, and that after giving birth to son Nick -the love and the heartbreak of her life -May began fearing that Nathanael might be his father. A glimpse into May's past also introduces her mother, a passionate labor activist who passes along a thirst for everything around her. And, as May grows older, people outside of her family, such as Jackie at the office, form a bond with her and find a place in her heart. The novel teems with well-drawn and appealing characters. It belongs in literary collections of large public libraries." -Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH"

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2006
This quiet debut novel follows the story of 74-year-old May Nilsson, a retired English teacher and widow, who finds herself belonging to the country of old women and reminiscing on a past defined by love. May remembers the difficult and pleasurable years of her marriage to a doctor as well as the excitement and pain of an extramarital affair. She reflects on a young coworker's elementary nature, her son's capriciousness, and her mother's political convictions. Each chapter presents an impressionistic view of May's family, friends, and lovers and their varying degrees of longing and happiness. Gently told, Trueblood's first work is poetic, contemplative, and tender.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)