Rich in Love (Contemporary American Fiction) - Softcover

Josephine Humphreys is the author of Dreams of Sleep, which won the 1985 Hemingway Foundation Award for a first work of fiction; of Rich in Love, made into a major motion picture; and of The Fireman's Fair (all available from Penguin).

What is it about adolescence that draws us to relive its pain and turmoil through books, movies, and television? Perhaps it is the advantage or safety of hindsight, or the comfort in realizing that even those who seemed so confident were suffering, too. Seventeen-year-old Lucille Odom is one such seemingly mature teenager who tries to hold her family together when her mother leaves abruptly - the ice cream melting in the grocery bag on the front seat of the car - and her twenty-five-year-old sister returns home with a new husband and a baby on the way. As life falls into place without her mother, it becomes clear that Lucille is not as strong and mature as she portrays herself to be. Josephine Humphreys has created a fully believable portrait of an adolescent in Lucille, who eventually realizes that she does not have all the answers, nor do the adults around her. She is challenged to turn outward and to deal with the hard truth of why her mother left; as she moves beyond her own needs she begins to understand the complexity and full circle of love - parental, filial, fraternal, sexual, and self. Written in deceptively simple and direct language, this is a story of growing up - with all its pain and glory - and of a family becoming individuals in order to remain a family. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Suzanne Leslie Simmons