|
|
See Larger
|
The Diary
By:
Eileen Goudge
List Price: $19.95
Your Price: $13.57
(as of: 09/10/10)
Manufacturer: Vanguard Press
ISBN: 1593155433
Publication Date: 2009-04-07
|
|
Product Description:
When the two grown daughters of Elizabeth Marshall discover an old diary of their mother’s in her attic, it comes as a shock to learn that the true love of Elizabeth’s life was not their father. This is the mystery the two daughters must unravel as they stay up late reading the words penned by Elizabeth so long ago. Their mother can’t give them the answers: After a massive stroke, she lies mute and near death in a nursing home. Only the pages of her diary can provide clues to what really happened. In a richly detailed journey into the past, we see Elizabeth lose her heart to one man while remaining devoted to another. Finally, she must choose between the stable, loyal Bob...and the electrifying and unpredictable A.J., who spent time in juvenile detention as a teen. When a suspicious fire in the neighborhood is linked to A.J., Elizabeth is faced with another dilemma: She’s the only one who can clear A.J.’s name, but to do so would ruin her reputation. Surprisingly, it’s Bob who comes to the rescue, forcing Elizabeth to make perhaps the most painful decision of her life.... The Diary is a love story. It’s also the story of the unshakable bond between a mother and her daughters.
|
|
|
Sisters Emily and Sarah are painstakingly going through their mother’s belongings after accepting the fact that Elizabeth will never be able to come home again. Emily finds her mom’s diary with the first entry dated July 3, 1951. After debating whether they have the right to invade their mother’s privacy, they come to the conclusion that Elizabeth would have destroyed her diary rather than save it if she hadn’t wanted her daughters to find it. However, what they discover is that their late, adored father, Bob, was not the love of Elizabeth’s life. It would seem that their mother settled for second best instead of the love of her life, a man she calls A.J. Fate sends a dear friend of their mother’s to tell Emily and Sarah the unabridged and beautiful story of A.J., Elizabeth, and Bob.
Eileen Goudge is a master at creating family dramas, and THE DIARY is perhaps her most touching story yet. The characters, the time line, and the narrative are totally awesome. This is a one-sitting, page-turning book that will leave you with a smile on your face and a warm glow in your heart.
|
|
|
| By: Betty Cox, ReaderToReader.com
|
|
|
Customer Reviews
For reading on a rainy day...: (2010-07-17)
I read The Diary in a day because I needed to know how it ended, I just had to know. The scenes quietly whispered the events to me, and my hands fluttered through the pages, desperate to drink in just a little more of what was going to happen. It's told from two perspectives -- from Elizabeth's daughters during current day and from Elizabeth as a young woman through the events recorded in her diary. The two sisters have come across it as they clear their parent's house -- their mother, Elizabeth, has suffered a severe stroke and is placed into a nursing home. Their father has already passed and they feel that their mother may not survive her stroke either. The diary is written when their mother, Elizabeth, has a choice between two men -- one who is considered to be the all around perfect guy and a real catch, and another who is from the wrong side of the tracks. Not to mention, Elizabeth also has a dominating mother who is into pretense and image who she constantly struggles with. At first blush to hear the premise, you may think it's a story told before, but I can assure you that there is quite a difference with Eileen Goudge's writing -- once you dive into the flow of the words, the beauty and suspense becomes quite a treat. It was a perfect excuse to get caught up in another world, thinking about what the choices and experiences of a young woman in the 1950s may go through. It was a sweetly told book, the kind that as I read, I was begging for it to start to rain outside, simply because it's just one of those books to curl up with. Quite honestly, I have visions of this being a movie, and maybe with someone like Sandra Bullock as Elizabeth in the 1950s? (I do realize that Sandra Bullock is a little older than the character, but I am firmly Team Sandra, and I think she can play any role). Okay, maybe Maggie Gyllenhaal? I've been loving the roles that she's been in lately. Has there ever been a book that you've read that as you are moving through the story, you can just see someone from Hollywood taking the role? And the book is written so well that you can see each scene play out? That's what The Diary did for me! I've got it all mapped out...
The Diary: (2010-05-25)
I would give this book 3.5 stars if I could. I had a good time reading this book. It seemed like a really fast read for me because I have never read a large print edition before, so it felt like I was flipping through the pages pretty fast, but then I guess I would have been even if it wasn't a large print book. The story line was very intriguing and kept you wondering what was going to happen next in the mother's diary and how her two daughters were going to react to it. Reading this book reminds you that everyone has a past, even your own parents. It makes me wonder about the past experiences of my parents before they met.
Something familiar . . .: (2009-11-06)
When Emily and Sarah sort through their mother's things as they prepare for her imminent death, they are surprised to find a diary she had kept during the time she and their father courted. The Diary by Eileen Goudge is a beautifully written study of relationships and the repercussions of learning about a hidden past. Finding the diary is a surprise, but its contents are sometimes shocking. The girls have lived their lives believing they knew everything there was to know - or wanted to know - about their parents' relationship. Their father has died the previous year and now they have the sad task of preparing for their mother to follow him. But the diary reveals that Elizabeth Marshall may not have married the love of her life. Through its pages, Emily and Sarah discover a past hidden from them, a past that includes two young men who vied for Elizabeth's hand. On the verge of being betrothed to handsome, accomplished Bob, it seemed her heart belonged to devil-may-care AJ, whose prospects were less than glowing. Somewhat wild and disreputable, AJ fascinates Elizabeth in a way staid, solid-citizen Bob isn't able to. When Elizabeth admits she was with AJ the night of a suspicious fire for which he is a suspect, her reputation is soiled, maybe permanently. Her life continues in turmoil as she and both men are affected by society's whims. Emily and Sarah find themselves surprised, shocked, and moved by their mother's choices and the course of her life. They find that learning the truth about their parents' history has a profound effect on their own lives. The Diary is a novel of deeply drawn characters and tangled emotions. It is steeped in its era - the 1950s and `60s - and the mores of that time. The only problem with the style - if it really is a problem - is the fully articulated, precisely-described scenes, including character emotions and dialogue, that come from the pages of a diary. The third-person omniscient observer apparently supplies that information. The two girls get a lot more detail than can be gleaned from the pages of a diary. However, the detail is welcome as the reader experiences the story. The characters are well developed and three-dimensional. Gouge's style is engaging; I had no trouble imagining that world of decades ago. If you want to read a story with a lot of action, crime, and devious goings-on, this is not the book for you. Sometimes a bit slow, Goudge did not rush it to any conclusion or assumption, but took the time to develop the characters, in their world, with all their shortcomings. I do not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who wants to get lost in an intriguing love story.
|
|
|
)
