by Ann-Marie MacDonald, 1996, Touchstone Books, New York

This book had great potential as it was set in a remote town in Nova Scotia at the beginning of the twentieth century.  This is an area about which I have no knowledge.

The story is about a young man who elopes with a very young girl and then fathers two girls.  The two girls couldn’t be any more different in personality and talent.  What transpires after that I will leave to other readers.

The author’s writing style is extremely good, but she quickly wanders into “Oprah Land” as the family members become weirder and weirder.  The plot line never quite comes together.  After I put the book down, I thought to myself that the characters never really had an impact on me.  For this reason I have a much lower opinion of the book than I would otherwise.