Maggie has always been the white sheep of the Walsh family.Unlike her comically dysfunctional sisters,Rachel(heroine of Rachel's Holiday) and Claire (heroine of Watermelon), she married a decent man who adored her and found herself a solid career. Where Rachel was reckless and Claire dramatic, Maggie settled early for safety. Or so she believed until she discovers that her husband is having an affair and her boss is going to fire her. Suddenly, her perfectly organized life has become a perfect mess.
Newport, Rhode Island: a world of old money, old names, and sinister secrets. Maggie Holloway, a fashion photographer, goes to visit an old friend -- but when she arrives, the friend is dead, the victim of a violent robbery. Maggie is stunned when she learns that she's the beneficiary of the will -- and even more stunned when she recognizes a pattern of murder in Newport society that will lead the killer straight to her.
It is New Year’s Eve when the storm of the century hits northern California. In a quiet neighborhood in San Francisco, amid the chaos of fallen trees and damaged homes, the lives of three strangers are about to collide. For Quinn Thompson, what happens in the storm’s wake will bring down a barrier he has built around himself since his wife’s death. For neighbor Maggie Dartman, it will spark friendship at a time when she needs it most. And for Jack Adams, a carpenter who will repair Quinn’s and Maggie’ s homes, the storm brings an opportunity: to help two people and to be repaid with the greatest gift of all.
With the introduction of Maggie Schultz, a feisty and independent third grader, Cleary again gives young readers a real person with whom they can identify and empathize. This deceptively simple story is accessible to primary-grade readers able to read long hand, as some of the text is in script. The plot develops around Maggie's defiant refusal to learn cursive writing, one of the mainstays of the third-grade curriculum. When her mother queries her about how long it might take her to decide to write cursive, Maggie answers, "Maybe forever."
Maggie Stovall is trapped inside a person she's spent years carefully crafting. Now the truth about who she is-and what she's done-is bursting to the surface and sending Maggie into a spiral of despair. Will Maggie walk away from her ten-year marriage and her responsibility as a foster mother in her desperate desire to escape the mantle of depression that is cloaking her?
