Lyn Cote Leigh

Leigh

Lyn Cote

Warner, Jan 2006, $10.99

ISBN: 0446694371

Linda Leigh Sinclair was born in 1947 to an overprotective mom. When the teen watches the civil rights and other monumental movements on TV news during the 1960's, she knows she wants to become a reporter. Over the objection of mom, she covers the 1963 rally led by the Reverend King in nearby Washington, D.C. for her high school paper.

Five years later Leigh covers the Democratic National Convention in Chicago when riots break out. When her best friend Mary Beth vanishes, Leigh uses her still fledgling investigative skills to trace her to the anti-war counterculture in San Francisco. She falls in love, but that does not work out, though he returns her feelings. Not long afterward she meets someone else and gives birth to Carly, but she and the father go separate ways. Leigh knows how her mom felt, as she wants to protect Carly from life's precarious nature. When Carly turns up missing, Leigh turns to God for solace, just as she has done before when tumultuous events made no sense.

The third generation Women of Ivy Manor (see CHLOE and BETTE) is a kaleidoscope look at major events mostly during the 1960's and 1970's. The storyline moves quickly from the Freedom March to the Chicago Convention, to Give Peace a Chance rallies, as Leigh proves she is indeed an Ivy Manor descendant with her survival instincts. Interestingly her faith in God comes from a no atheist in the fox hole perspective, as she worries about her daughter just like her mom used to agonize over her. Lyn Cote writes a warm entry starring an interesting protagonist, but it is the backdrop of events that ignite the tale.