Off Season

April 7, 2008
No one does coastal melodrama like veteran Siddons (Homeplace
). Lilly Constable McCall, 53, has led an enviable life—marriage and children with a successful architect, her own success as a sculptor—but husband Cam's death sends her spiraling. She returns to the coastal family cottage in Edgewater, Maine, where she spent her childhood, and where Cam died. There, she recalls the summer of 1962, and the arrival in town of new girl Peaches Davenport, who envies all Lilly has. That includes the attentions of attractive older boy Jon Lowell, who awakens grown-up feelings in Lilly's 11-year-old heart. But it's Lilly's place as the daughter of a Washington, D.C., professor and the “sporadically successful†painter and activist Elizabeth Constable—that makes Lilly's childhood most attractive to Peaches, and to readers. Jon may have shared her first kiss, and Cam her home and children, but it's the changing relationship between Lilly and the elusive, enigmatic Elizabeth that makes this story fresh.

Starred review from October 27, 2008
In Siddons’s stirring novel, the recently widowed Lily Constable returns to her childhood summer home in Maine to sift through formative memories of her parents and her first love. It’s difficult to imagine a more marvelous performance than Jane Alexander’s. Alexander captures the strength and vulnerability of Lily from childhood to late middle age, and perfectly renders the physical weight of Lily’s grief at her losses. She skillfully navigates the novel’s cast of characters, from the slow, deep and thoughtful drawl of Lily’s father to the high-pitched, false charm of the vicious young neighbor whose poison darts put tragic events in motion. Alexander also brings to life the great unnamed character in the book—the natural world, giving voice to birds and even a talking cat, and intuitively understanding the life-giving power of the sea. This is an example of how a good novel can become magnificent when it is beautifully told. A Grand Central hardcover (reviewed online).

Upon the death of her husband, Lilly Constable McDowell returns to her summer home in Maine to scatter his ashes and reflect on her life. Jane Alexander gives a convincing performance as the 60-year-old Lilly. As the widow recalls her youth, Alexander lightens her voice enough for the listener to suspend disbelief, especially given her realistic variations in tone. However, Alexander's male characters, with their artificially deepened voices, sound forced and shallow. Further, peripheral females of all ages, except for Lilly's adored and unconventional mother, come across as exaggerated and acted, rather than felt. Alexander's occasional mispronunciations of Bangor (she intermittently calls it "Banger") will jar listeners familiar with that Maine city. So will the story's unrealistic ending. R.L.L. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

November 1, 2008
Returning to her beloved Maine home to scatter her husband's ashes, Lilly reconstructs her past and makes peace with her future. Four-time Oscar Award nominee Jane Alexander uses her acting chops to keep New York Times best-selling author Siddons's (Sweetwater Creek) sweetly sentimental story from toppling into sappiness. She imbues Lilly's childhood voice with self-absorbed innocence, gradually morphing it into that of an adult. When Lilly's husband arrives, her father's importance dwindlesa good thing, since their voices were indistinguishable. While this isn't Siddons's best, her descriptions will have listeners hearing the birds and smelling the ocean. Public libraries should purchase. [Also available from Books on Tape. 10 CDs. library ed. unabridged. 11' hrs. ISBN Jodi L. Israel, MLS, Salt Lake City

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