Heather Newton

Heather Newton's The Puppeteer's Daughters is one of those reads that feels like a gift: lovely, substantive, and leaving readers with a deep sense of satisfaction. In general, I'm not big on family-story novels. While The Puppeteer's Daughters definitely fits within that genre, I enjoyed it a great deal. The family in this instance is an aging puppeteer with the sort of cachet and respect Jim Henson has. The puppeteer is slipping into dementia. He has three adult daughters, each by a different mother, all of whom have difficult relationships with him and with one another. To complicate things further, he's now told them that there's a fourth daughter, one they've never met and have no idea how to find.

The novel moves into the realm of fairytale as each daughter is (is she really?) granted a wish by a stranger that sets her on a path to a deeper sense of self. Newton makes each of these characters sympathetic. They're definitely imperfect, but those imperfections are human and clearly grounded in their different childhoods. Seeing them confront themselves and one another and gradually come to terms with their very different lives makes for a pleasant reading experience. The Puppeteer's Daughters has a strong narrative arc, but it's the small details of everyday life that really carry the book.

When you're looking for a gentle, hopeful piece of reading, The Puppeteer's Daughters would be an excellent novel to turn to. You'll leave it feeling more forgiving not just of the book's characters, but yourself as well.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via EdelweissPlus; the opinions are my own.… (altro)

3.5***

From the book jacket Thirty years ago, Martin Owenby came to New York City with dreams of becoming a writer. Now his existence revolves around cheap Scotch and weekend flings with equally damaged men. When he learns that his older brother, Leon, has gone missing, he must return to the Owenby farm in Solace Fork, North Carolina, to assist in the search. But that means facing a past filled with regrets, the family that never understood him, the girl whose heart he broke, and the best friend who has faithfully kept the home fires burning.

My reactions:
Oh, what a tangled web we weave… I’m not sure what I was thinking, even from reading the book jacket, but this was quite a bit darker than I expected. There are so many things going on, so many “secrets” (most of which are known to family and even the rest of the residents of this small town), so many betrayals. We have people consumed by alcohol (and/or drugs), mean-spirited control freaks, unfaithful spouses, guilty consciences, mental (and physical) illness and abject loneliness that comes with keeping all that bottled up. I’m exhausted by the effort required by these characters to hide so much and still co-exist in such tight quarters.

Martin is such a broken man, whose early promise has never been realized. I cannot help but think of the analogy of a basket of crabs … you don’t need a cover because if any one of the crabs tries to crawl out, the others will just drag it back into the basket. In this case it is Martin’s family situation, his loyalty to his mother, his guilt for leaving her, his shame for being who he is, a gay man in a time and place that will not tolerate such “aberration and sin.” He is so broken that he cannot even accept the love of his two loyal friends from high school – Liza and Hodge – who still love him for who he is despite his efforts to run from them.

And Martin’s sister, Ivy, is a marvelous character. Gifted (or cursed) with an ability to see and communicate with ghosts, she’s discounted by the townspeople and her family as insane and/or stupid. She is virtually invisible, mostly because no one wants to see her. As a result she’s a great observer and keeper of secrets.

As for the mystery of Martin’s missing older brother … Newton surprised me with several of the plot twists.

This is her only novel. I wish there were more for me to read.… (altro)

The book reminded me of The Sound and the Fury with all the different voices. The characters did not tell their own story, but an uninterested narrator explained each person. The story begins with the disappearance of the oldest of 5 siblings of a rural, mountainous town. The family and friends gather to search for the missing Leon. In the course of the narrator's ramblings, the reader learns that Martin, the youngest, is a homosexual, and that Liza, a family friend, ignores this for decades. Bertie, the wife of James, had a brief 3 day fling and no one in the town knows with whom. Sister Ivy has led a terrible life with being raped at 13 years old by a friend of Leon. And Eugenia is the "holy" woman that attends church, but has a vicious tongue. Heather Newton presents characters with all their flaws and not glossed over life Hollywood stars. As each character realizes their short comings, the story suddenly ends.… (altro)