The Effects of Light

November 22, 2004
Beverly-Whittemore investigates the relationship between art and life in an engaging but uneven debut that reveals both her promise and her youth (she was born in 1976). As children, Myla Wolfe and her now deceased sister, Pru, posed for a series of provocative photographs. Because of an unnamed (but aggressively insinuated) tragedy, Myla has spent her adult life as a history professor named Kate Scott (though an unconvincing one: "So much passion over something so potentially boring: medieval research!... She felt lost in ideas"). A mysterious letter and a colleague's lecture draw her back to her hometown, where she tries to put together the puzzle of her dead father's academic work, reconnect with those she left behind, rediscover herself as Myla and forge a new love with the aforementioned colleague. Her quest is juxtaposed with the parallel narrative of the tragedy's buildup, as told by her dead sister. Beverly-Whittemore gets points for her ambitious plot, but a naïve intellectual enthusiasm overwhelms the novel, and in trying to incorporate too many heavy themes, she obscures the novel's focus: is this a mystery? an allegory? a graduate student essay? At one point, Myla recalls how her father congratulated her for refusing to learn to read yet, thus demonstrating that "she wasn't ready... to lose the big picture." Beverly-Whittemore doesn't seem ready to lose it, either—but next time, perhaps she'll exert more control over her far-reaching visions. Agent, Anne Hawkins. 4-city author tour.

October 15, 2004
Posing in the nude for photographer/family friend Ruth Handel has far-reaching consequences for young sisters Myla and Pru. From a first novelist who comes bearing lots of literary awards; with a four-city author tour.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2004
Thirteen years after she fled the West Coast, Kate Scott is returning to hesitantly pry open painful memories of her sister and her father. A mysterious package from an unknown benefactor shows Kate that someone else knows her turbulent secret history as a child-model for a controversial photographer. Her lover, Samuel, follows Kate and pledges to help her unearth the clues her father has left behind, but when Kate discovers Samuel's notebook with surreptitious jottings about herself and her family's notorious past, she rejects him. Readers will be drawn into the mystery surrounding Kate's sister, her father, and Ruth, the photographer, even wondering who Kate truly is. Told in alternating voices between Kate and her sister, this first novel is drawing prepublication parallels with " The Lovely Bones " (for the narrative voices of its teen characters), " Girl with a Pearl Earring" (for its art-world frame) and " Possession" (for its plot of academics searching ancient documents for contemporary truths).Passionate writing, skillful plotting, and intriguing characters make this a necessary purchase. An excellent selection for a book discussion group. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)