CommitmentNow.com Reviews Lesley Kagen's latest book, Good Graces!

Good Graces is the sequel to Whistling in the Dark, Lesley Kagen's 2007 bestseller - and is just as moving!

Lesley Kagen’s 2007 novel, Whistling in the Dark, takes place in 1950s Wisconsin and features two sisters, Sally and Troo O’Malley.  The tale of two little girls in a bygone area proved to be a hit among readers, Indie book sellers, book clubs and teachers.

As in Whistling in the Dark, the Wisconsin locale plays a prominent role in Good Graces, Kagen’s latest novel.  Kagen’s affinity for this state shines through her prose.  Equally as important is the 1950s which Kagen brings to life with references to the music, gender stereotypes, fashions and other cultural references of that era.  Without trivializing it as a “simpler” time, Kagen allows us to peek into an era when children played without adult supervision, few women worked outside the home, smoking indoors was routine, and respect for religious leaders was non-negotiable.

Good Graces begins where Whistling in the Dark ends:  Sally O’Malley and her younger sister Troo have just survived a summer spent dealing with their father’s sudden death, their mother’s remarriage and hospitalization and their narrow escape from a child molester.  Good Graces is the story of how the girls subsequently handle those traumas and face new ones.

Just prior to his death following a car crash, Sally’s dad made her promise to keep her sister Troo (one year her junior) safe.  Sally, still traumatized from the previous year’s events, doubts she has the ability to keep the spunky and thrill-seeking Troo out of trouble, especially as the heat soars and new troubles present themselves:  a string of home burglaries, their mother’s pending marital annulment and the disappearance of a child from the local orphanage.

The story is told from eleven-year-old Sally’s point of view, and Kagen does this with great success.  Seeing the world through Sally’s eyes is both scary and exciting:  We see how frustrating it can be to be a child in a world run by adults, and at the same time, Sally’s innocence is illuminating.  Children, even those who have seen and experienced more than they should, still maintain a point of view different from the adults around them.

Good Graces is dark, yet humorous.  It is a beautifully written and compelling story that, although it is a sequel to Whistling in the Dark, is able to stand on its own.