Luanne Rice Sandcastles

Sandcastles

Luanne Rice

Bantam, Jul 2006, $24.00

ISBN 0553804197

After six years in an Irish prison for killing the man who assaulted his fourteen years old daughter Regis, renowned earthworks artist John Sullivan is freed. He returns to Connecticut, but is hesitant to go home to the nearby Star of the Sea Academy and convent where his family works and lives because he fears his beloved spouse Honor will reject him for the harm he caused her and their three daughters.

He turns to his sibling Sister Bernadette Ignatius and his best friend Tom Kelly to serve as communicators between him and his wife as John worries that Regis is heading down the aisle into a bad marriage while his offspring wants him at her wedding. His other two daughters do not openly greet him either as one feels he abandoned her and her siblings and the other does not know him as she was too young when he left. However all that is topped by his trepidation that his beloved Honor will not take him back; if he can find the courage and get her alone amongst the Connecticut Moonstones perhaps the magic will surface for he believes it remains alive just dormant.

This is an interesting family drama due to the differing reactions of the three siblings as one desperately wants her dad back in her life; another wants him totally out of her life; and the third is unsure what she wants when it comes to him. John knows he has made mistakes that he can never atone for, but prays for a second chance with his beloved fearsome female foursome. Though the solution seems too simplistic, contemporary fans will enjoy this second chance at love.

Harriet Klausner