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Summary
Summary
In this magnificent retum to the world of Evergreen, Henrietta Roth, an extraordinary woman, fights to control her destiny; and three turbulent generations come vividly to life against a background of immigrant struggle, war, and passion.
Author Notes
Belva Plain lives in northern New Jersey. She is the author of the bestselling novels "Evergreen", "Random Winds", "Eden Burning", "Crescent City", "The Golden Cup", "Tapestry", "Blessings", "Harvest", "Treasures", "Whispers", "Daybreak", "The Carousel", "Promises", "Secrecy", "Homecoming", "Legacy of Silence", "Fortune's Hand", and "After the Fire".
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Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Set in turn-of-the-century New York, Plain's latest is a stirring novel that focuses on irrepressible Hennie De Riveraaunt of Evergreen's Paul Wernerand her family. Hennie's stagnant existence ends when she begins dating Dan Roth, an impoverished science teacher and social reformer who despises the materialistic excesses of the rich. She weds Dan despite her middle-class family's objections and her knowledge of his earlier womanizing. The marriage is tested when Dan's activism alienates Hennie's wealthy brother-in-law, Walter Werner, whose father owns tenements, and when Hennie agrees to raise Leah, daughter of a dying factory worker. The girl matures into a shrewd, forceful woman who gravitates toward the Roths' exceptionally mild-mannered son, Freddy. While their relationship intensifies, Walter's son, Paul, weds affluent Mimi Mayer, yet he cannot dismiss his passion for Anna, his mother's winsome maid. Plain (Random Winds, Eden Burning invests her story with dignity and historical relevance while insightfully depicting the class consciousness of Progressive Era Americans. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club dual main selections; Reader's Digest Condensed Books selection. (October 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Plain returns to the turn-of-the-century Manhattan of Evergreen (1978), now featuring the family of Paul Werner, erstwhile lover of Evergreen's Anna, that feisty, upwardly mobile immigrant who appears here briefly but potently. Again there is that measured mix of family woes, lovers' bonanzas and blights, and dining-room occasions--calamity with a tea cozy. It all begins with Hennie De Rivera, Paul's aunt, catching first sight of dashing Dan Roth as he leaps into a burning building to rescue an old woman. Hennie is warned by crusty uncle Dr. David that Dan is a ladies' man, but Hennie's pregnancy hastens marriage to Dan--in spite of the disapproval of Mother Angelique, who's still living dreams of the Old South in her plush Manhattan digs. Sephardic Angelique looks down on German Jews, although she's happy with daughter Florence's husband, Walter Werner, who's making it big in real estate. (Also doing well is Hennie's easy-going brother Alfie, who marries out of his faith). Hennie and Dan produce scholarly, fragile Freddie and also raise Leah, orphan of a hardluck slum widow. As parents, they remain political activists, carrying banners for the oppressed working class--a stance that causes a family rift when Dan admits to exposing Waiter's firm for slum-lording. Through the years, troubles pop: Paul, on the brink of leaving gentle, family-accepted Mimi at the canopy, in his passion for servant Anna, confides only in Hennie; son Freddie, a romantic, joins the British Army in WW I and will experience a gamut of miseries on and off the battlefield until the final sacrificial exit (and what is Freddie's sexual secret?); beautiful Leah, career woman, wife and mother, betrays her husband (or does she really?); and Hennie, after years of marriage to Dan, has a horrid revelation. At the dose, however, family survivors are reunited by tragedy and love at a child's birthday party--""the family together and healed."" A twig from Plain's Evergreen, whose admirers will find this irresistible. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
In her highly successful novel Evergreen and the miniseries that followed, Plain told the story of immigrant Anna Friedman and her love for Paul Werner. Here the focus shifts to Paul's aunt, Hennie DeRivera, from age 18 in 1891 through World War I. As a volunteer, Hennie teaches English at a settlement house where she meets Daniel Roth. Their relationship is frowned upon by her family, but they marry when she becomes pregnant. Her uncertainty over whether Dan would have married her otherwise is aggravated by his roving eye. The grown-up Paul, Hennie's son Fred, and Leah, an orphan she raises, are also featured. Characterizations are often superficial but sparked by an occasional insight into motivations, hinting of skills better realized in earlier novels. Interest in the family carries the reader forward and will certainly prompt demand. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club dual main selections. Ellen Kaye Stoppel, Drake Univ. Law Lib., Des Moines (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
