Book Review: Woman in Red by Eileen Goudge

Rating: B
Setting: San Juan Islands, Present Day and 1940s
Genre: Women's Fiction/Family Drama


I gave this book a B, a 1/2 point off because of the sloppy research about the cardinal being in the San Juans (mentioned more than once) but 1/2 point added due to the setting (a fictionalized Orcas Island, called Gray's Island in the book). Basically it's about Alice Kessler who has just returned to Gray's Island after nine years in prison for attempted murder of the man responsible for the death of her young son. Arriving on the same ferry is Colin McGinty, a 9/11 widower there to settle his grandfather's estate. Alice needs to reconnect with the son she left behind, now a teenager who doesn't seem to want to have much to do with her, and facing ostracization from the community (the man she attempted to murder is now the town's powerful mayor). Interwoven is a poignant story from the 1940s whichjust happens to be about Alice's grandmother and Colin's grandfather.

It's off to Les tomorrow. I think she'll enjoy is as she will be visiting the area soon. But I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys powerful family dramas -- it does get a little melodramatic toward the end and that kept it from being an A read. But overall, I enjoyed it and it was a smooth, quick read and was never dull. Oh and my town even gets a brief mention toward the end!