The Mermaid Chair

Starred review from February 21, 2005
Jessie Sullivan, the protagonist of this rewarding second novel by the author of the bestselling Secret Life of Bees
, is awakened by a shrilling phone late one night to horrifying news: her mother, who has never recovered from her husband Joe's death 33 years earlier, has chopped off her own finger with a cleaver. Frantic with worry, and apprehensive at the thought of returning to the small island where she grew up in the shadow of her beloved father's death and her mother's fanatical Catholicism, 42-year-old Jessie gets on the next plane, leaving behind her psychiatrist husband, Hugh, and college-age daughter, Dee. On tiny Egret Island, off the coast of South Carolina, Jessie tries to care for her mother, Nelle, who is not particularly eager to be taken care of. Jessie gets help from Nelle's best friends, feisty shopkeeper Kat and Hepzibah, a dignified chronicler of slave history. To complicate matters, Jessie finds herself strangely relieved to be free of a husband she loves—and wildly attracted to Brother Thomas, né Whit O'Conner, a junior monk at the island's secluded Benedictine monastery. Confusing as the present may be, the past is rearing its head, and Jessie, who has never understood why her mother is still distraught by Joe's death, begins to suspect that she's keeping a terrible secret. Writing from the perspective of conflicted, discontented Jessie, Kidd achieves a bold intensity and complexity that wasn't possible in The Secret Life of Bees
, narrated by teenage Lily. Jessie's efforts to cope with marital stagnation; Whit's crisis of faith; and Nelle's tormented reckoning with the past will resonate with many readers. This emotionally rich novel, full of sultry, magical descriptions of life in the South, is sure to be another hit for Kidd. Agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh.
20-city author tour.

Starred review from November 1, 2005
Kidd's second novel moves away from the adolescent narration of "The Secret Life of Bees"; a middle-aged woman returns to her childhood home on Egret Island, off the coast of South Carolina, because her mother, Nelle, has inexplicably maimed herself. The return comes at a transitory time as Jessie reexamines her own life and goals as well as her love for her husband, Hugh. While the use of a Benedictine monastery and the romantic appeal of Brother Thomas will draw inevitable comparisons to Colleen McCullough's "The Thornbirds", a better comparison based on the characters and locale may be to Gloria Naylor's "Mama Day." This story finds its power and lyricism within Jessie's own -coming of age - creativity and rediscovery as well as the mystery of her mother's sorrow. The mermaid chair itself is such a strongly evocative and well-constructed image, one may wish the publishers portrayed it on the cover! The tragedies Nelle and Jessie face are heightened by the matched skills of both the author and reader Eliza Foss. Highly recommended." -Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY"

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 2, 2005
Every aspect of this audiobook, from the enchanting music that marks the story's dramatic moments to the narrator's intimate delivery, draws listeners into Kidd's mystical world. Set on Egret Island, a fictional barrier island off the coast of South Carolina, the novel focuses on 42-year-old Jessie, a Southern housewife who embarks on a journey of self-discovery after learning that her mother, who's still distraught over her husband's death 33 years earlier, has cut off her own finger. Foss speaks with grace and tenderness, deftly capturing the myriad characters who enter Jessie's life, including her love interest, an introspective attorney turned monk who's about to take his finals vows. Perhaps the book's most important character, however, is the land itself, and Foss wisely gives as much weight to Kidd's detailed depictions of the island's lush flora and fauna as to the characters themselves, never rushing through the descriptions and always reading these passages with an appropriate note of reverence. Simultaneous release with the Viking hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 21).