The Carousel
by Belva Plain
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Description
In public, Oliver Grey is a devoted father, prominent public figure, humanitarian, and respected businessman. But in private, there's a much darker side to Oliver Grey; a side so dark that someone is driven to kill him... Though the Greys appear to be an enviable upper class family, they are not without problems. Ian, the older son, is a womanizer and compulsive gambler; Clive, the younger son, is an odd man barely five feet tall with no life outside his work as an accountant; and Amanda, show more Oliver's niece, whom he raised after her parents died in a plane crash, has been twice divorced and has had a difficult life. Dan, Amanda's brother, is the only Grey who appears to have no problems—except with his six-year-old daughter Caroline, whose behavior reminds him more and more of his troubled sister Amanda. The trouble had started with Oliver Grey's decision to divide his nationally known business, Grey's Food, among Ian, Clive, and Dan. Amanda, bitter about being left out of the business, arrives from California to straighten out her financial holdings in the company. On a visit to Ellen, Dan's wife, Amanda sees a silver carousel much like the one Oliver gave her when she was a child. Ellen says the carousel was a gift to Caroline from Oliver. Amanda breaks down and tells Ellen that Oliver had given her the carousel to keep her from telling the truth about the unspeakable things he had done to her. Ellen, horrified by this revelation, finally understands why her daughter has been acting so strangely and why a therapist had raised the possibility that Caroline may have been sexually abused. Ellen goes to Oliver Grey's home that evening to confront him. And when she leaves he is dead. Belva Plain breaks new ground in this stunning new novel. A family drama with a strong strain of mystery, The Carousel confirms her standing as one of today's most compelling and popular writers. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Loved this book, I could not put it down. The story is gripping right to the end.
Thank god I'm not part of this family. I enjoyed the story, but found the character development to be lacking and the ending just basically sucked.
http://iamagirldork.livejournal.com/16727.html
http://iamagirldork.livejournal.com/16727.html
A drama involving a family owned business and disagreements among the cousins over the future of the business and of thousands of acres of woodlands. Within this larger story is an inner story of a little girl and how her trust and innocence were stolen from her, and from another family member years earlier.
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Author Information
67+ Works 9,454 Members
Belva Plain lives in northern New Jersey. She is the author of the bestselling novels "Evergreen", "Random Winds", "Eden Burning", "Crescent City", "The Golden Cup", "Tapestry", "Blessings", "Harvest", "Treasures", "Whispers", "Daybreak", "The Carousel", "Promises", "Secrecy", "Homecoming", "Legacy of Silence", "Fortune's Hand", and "After the show more Fire". (Publisher Provided) Belva Plain was born in New York City on October 9, 1915. She received a degree in history from Barnard College in 1939. Her first short story was published in Cosmopolitan when she was 25 years old, and she continued to write for the publication for years. Her first novel, Evergreen (1978), was on the New York Times bestseller list for 41 weeks and was made into a television miniseries. Her other works include Crescent City, Promises, Blessings, The Carousel, Daybreak, and After the Fire. She died on October 12, 2010 at the age of 95. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1992
- People/Characters
- Sally Grey; Dan Grey; Clive Grey; Roxanne Melisande; Ian Grey
- Important places
- Sythia, Virginia, USA
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 409
- Popularity
- 75,597
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.28)
- Languages
- 7 — Danish, English, Finnish, French, Norwegian (Bokmål), Spanish, Swedish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 28
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 3
