Eileen Goudge: One Last Dance

Signet (Paperback), ISBN: 0-451-19948-0

Multi-layered and dense with meaning?

Emotionally evocative?

Compelling in its intensity?

A great read?

Yes, to all of the above. But One Last Dance demands to be read at a slower pace, one that requires the reader to ponder the nuances of language and narrative, to explore the ramifications of the relationships depicted among the three sisters, and to wonder how their family dysfunction can cured. Or if it truly can.

The Seagrave sisters, Daphne, Kitty, and Alex, all lead very different lives, dream different dreams and pursue goals, but they intend to attend the celebration of their parents’ fortieth anniversary. But they find themselves gathering for an entirely different reason when their mother shoots their father dead. The sisters must discover what drove their beautiful mother to murder, and why she refuses to explain her reasons.

A married novelist of some same acclaim, Daphne stagnates in her marriage and dreams of what could have been with the young man she loved and left twenty years before. Her first thoughts revolve around her mother and what they can do to save her.

The unmarried owner of a teashop, Kitty wants a baby more than anything in the world, but fate seems against her. She, too, worries about her mother — and she suspects unsavory things about her father.

Alex, a divorced realtor, desperately needs money to pay off her debts. Her father’s favorite, she keeps the secrets he entrusted to her — and she blames her mother for their loss.

Complex and intertwined, the plot incorporates many subplots, reveals the texture of a dysfunctional family, and does it with an interesting array of characters — not all of whom prove likable or admirable. Not a romance, although it does show the many faces of love, One Last Dance shows exactly why Eileen Goudge writes best sellers one right after the other.

Patricia Lucas White

Patricia Lucas White’s latest historical novel, To Last a Lifetime, was an Eppie finalist for 2003. To Last a Lifetime and two of her fantasy romances, the Sapphire Award-winning A Wizard Scorned and The Godmother Sanction, can be ordered through Hard Shell Word Factory. Her recent contemporary, PS, I’ve Taken a Lover, is available from Lionhearted Books.