One Last Dance FROM OUR EDITORS
The Barnes & Noble Review
In the small seaside community of Miramonte, California, Dr. Vernon Seagrave and his wife, Lydia, are thought to be a model couple, appearing happy and content to all who know them. But on the eve of the gala celebration planned for their 40th wedding anniversary, Lydia digs her husband's gun out of the closet and then shoots him several times in the chest, killing him. She makes no excuses for the cold-blooded murder, nor does she try to defend herself. In fact, she does everything she can to aid the police and the prosecution's case against her, everything, that is, except tell the real truth.
The murder leaves everyone shocked, but none so much as the Seagraves' three daughters, Daphne, Kitty, and Alex.
Daphne, a moderately successful novelist trapped in a loveless marriage to her physician husband, returns to her hometown to confront both the specter of her parents' secret lives and the life and blood reality of Johnny Devane — the one true love she left behind some 20 years before. While both Daphne and Johnny went on to marry others, neither of them ever got over the other. In Johnny's case, his pining for Daphne was the eventual death of his marriage, and at the first sight of her when she returns to town, he realizes just how strong his love for her has always been. But things are far from simple. There is the matter of Daphne's husband and her two children. There is also the fact that Johnny is now the assistant D.A. in Miramonte and therefore responsible for prosecuting Daphne's mother.
Kitty, the oldest Seagrave sister, is unmarried and childless, but is ontheverge of adopting the unborn baby of a local girl when her father's murder occurs. Devastated by both her family's tragedy and the sudden change of heart it triggers in the young mother-to-be, Kitty turns to the arms of a much younger man for solace — Sean, who also happens to be the older brother of the pregnant girl whose baby Kitty still hopes to adopt. When the young girl decides to give her baby to someone else, Kitty finds it unbearable to be around Sean because of the painful reminders he triggers. Yet, in the brief time Kitty has spent with Sean she has come to love him, which makes being away from him just as painful.
Alex, the youngest daughter and the one who was always her father's favorite, is hit hardest by her father's death. As her father's confidante for many years, Alex knows more than anyone else about the truth behind her parents' marriage, and she can't understand her older sisters' efforts to vindicate their mother. Her grief and confusion are compounded by some serious financial difficulties that have arisen since her divorce from her husband, Jim, two years earlier, a divorce that has left her emotionally bankrupt as well. Before long, Alex's difficulties grow to the point that they threaten her home, her custody of her twin daughters, and even her sanity.
Each of the three sisters harbors some secret knowledge about the true nature of their parents' relationship, and as they come together to try to unravel all the lies, they are forced to confront their own duplicity and the heavy cost of their silence. When the whole truth is finally revealed, it shocks each of them to their very core, ripping away the framework of lies on which they've built their lives. Only through love, openness, and total honesty can they hope to survive this devastating family tragedy with their emotions, sanity, and dreams intact.
Fans of Goudge's previous works will find the same high drama and deep passion that have kept her books on the bestseller charts. But this time there is the added bonus of a murder, though the intrigue here isn't in whodunit, but why. As Goudge explores the secrets and facades of the Seagrave family, revealing truths that were always evident but not always seen, one can't help but wonder what dark secrets may be lurking in our own families and how often we keep our personal blinders a little too firmly in place.
&$151;Beth Amos
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Fans won't have to wait any longer for a new Eileen Goudge novel. And One Last Dance will sweep them off their feet. With all the trademark allure and suspense that have made every one of her books since the blockbuster Garden of Lies "a page-turner" (New Woman), she has woven a heartrending story of startling passion around three sisters who must confront a tangle of family lies in the wake of a shocking tragedy.
On the eve of their fortieth wedding anniversary, the Seagraves are among the most enviable couples in Miramonte, California, and still deeply in love --until the night Lydia Seagrave picks up a gun and shoots her husband. Novelist Daphne returns home and is forced to contend not only with her father's murder but also with her undeniable feelings for the only man she has ever loved--the D.A. who is prosecuting her mother. Youngest daughter Alex is determined to vindicate him and Kitty sets out to vindicate her mother and enters headlong into a passionate love affair with a younger man. As the devastated sisters come together to unravel the truth about their family, they must also face the lies and betrayals they've unknowingly taken part in. They must rebuild from their shattered illusions a life that is honest. . . even at the risk of being painful. "-Eileen Goudge writes like a house on fire, creating characters you come to love and hate to leave." --Nora Roberts
FROM THE CRITICS
Newsday
When it comes to pacing, suspense, and control, Eileen Goudge is a pro.
Chicago Tribune
A gifted writer with an eye for telling detail.
Library Journal
The author of Thorns of Truth (LJ 3/15/98) has another winner for the "happy endings" crowd. Just before their 40th anniversary, Lydia Seagrave freely admits to shooting her husband. Grown daughters Daphne, Kitty, and Alex must try to determine why their mother killed the man she, and they, loved. Along the way, the sisters must examine their feelings for their parents and others they love. Each must also decide if she is ready to pursue what she truly desires in life. Though Goudge still writes about family secrets, love, and forgiveness, this plot seems less convoluted than some of her earlier ones. Ideal for readers looking for a fairy tale: lovely, talented women, handsome men who love them, and little permanent trauma from a violent death and the awful secrets it unleashes. [A Doubleday Book Club main selection and a Super Release of the Literary Club; previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/99.]--Rebecca Sturm Kelm, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib, Highland Heights Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
AudioFile
The three Seagrave sisters face an upheaval that brings their individual problems and family secrets to the fore when their mother shoots their father on the eve of the couple's fortieth wedding anniversary. Goudge's story is somewhat predictable since it's clear that everything will work out despite that dark secret. Nevertheless, the characters are engrossing, and Sandra Burr's ability to express every emotional nuance is perfectly suited to this kind of story. Her tones are truly "bell-like,ﾽ and her male voices, slightly deeper in tone, sound natural. Both the narrative passages and conversations flow naturally. The talents of author and narrator create a family that seems as real as next-door neighbors. M.A.M. ﾽ AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Death in a closeknit family brings disturbing revelations of infidelities and betrayal as Goudge (Thorns of Truth, 1998, etc.) offers an absorbing and persuasive, if sometimes predictable, take on sibling rivalry. A few days before Dr. Vernon and Lydia Seagrave are to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary, Lydia picks up a gun and shoots her husband. And when the police arrive, she provides no explanation for her action. Younger daughters Kitty and Alex live near the family home on the California coast; eldest sister Daphne, a novelist, has to fly in from New York, leaving her husband, Roger, behind to take care of their children. As the three sisters struggle to understand what motive Lydia could possibly have had for killing their father, whom she claims she still loves, they find old rivalries resurfacing. Daphne has always been her mother's favorite, Kitty has sided with Daphne, and Alex was her father's pet. Now, she can't forgive her mother and won't help Daphne and Kitty as they try to understand Lydia's uncharacteristic behavior. Their father may have been a pillar of the community, but it seems he led a sordid private life, seducing his wife's best friend as well as others close to the family and affecting his daughters' happiness with his arrogant, manipulative conduct. Throughout the investigation and its disclosures, the sisters' lives change in other ways as well: Daphne finds herself falling in love again with Johnny, her high school sweetheart, now an assistant D.A.; single Kitty, wanting to adopt, also falls unexpectedly in love; and now-divorced Alex discovers, as she accepts the truth about her father, that she is ready to resume her marriage. All will beresolved, with, of course, romantic outcomes for all. A sunnier tale of a Daddy Dearest, by a writer who knows how to entertain in a lively and credible way—despite those too neatly programmed happy endings. (Literary Guild super release; Doubleday main selection)
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
[Eileen Goudge] creates characters you come to love and hate to leave. — Nora Roberts
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