Daughter of the Stars

This, along with [book: The Golden Unicorn] by the same author, are what my grandmother used to call "Woman in Front of the House Books" from the standard cover art of a young woman in flowing garments posed in front of a large, spooky-looking house. The technical name is romantic suspense, and Phyllis A. Whitney was a master of the genre (in fact she was named a Grand Master by the MWA in 1988). When Whitney died recently at age 104, I realized I hadn't read anything of hers since junior high (she also wrote for young adults) so when I saw these two books ready for discard from a friend's bookshelf I took them to read on the plane.
[book: Daughter of the Stars]' title refers to the Shenandoah River, which meets the Potomac at Harpers show more Ferry, WV, the setting for this novel. Whitney always began writing by visiting the location and it shows; I could easily visualize the setting although I've never been there. The heroine of this book has been raised by her mother with no other apparent relatives. During the mother's recovery from surgery, a letter comes from Harpers Ferry and the heroine discovers that she does have relatives there, and that they may be in danger. She travels to West Virginia, meets the relatives, and also meets a handsome historian. There is a murder, but all ends more or less happily. One can usually predict what's going to happen in these books, and this was no exception, but the setting was so well done and the writing so well-crafted that it was an excellent way to pass the time during the 11 hours in airports, airplanes, and bus that it took to get from Savannah to Portland. show less

Window on the Square is the one book the women in my family have in common. It's a gothic mystery/romance and don't ask me what it is about this book, but we all have a copy and we're all territorial over them. My sister has already claimed my mother's hardcover copy when that time comes. Fortunately, I'd upgraded to a hardcover a few years ago so we won't actually end up in court over who gets mom's copy. ;)

But I had never read any other Phyllis A. Whitney before now. As much as I love WotS, I don't consider myself a fan of gothic reads; probably because I struggle with the romance genre? Anyway, when I was on vacation and cutting a swath through the Friends of the Library book sales one of the dear volunteers gave me this book for show more free ("If you're buying this here stack of hardcovers, I'm not going to charge you for that poor paperback.").

My first impressions: Man, they just don't write them the way they used to. With an economy of words, Ms. Whitney transports you exactly where she wants you. A strong sense of time, place, atmosphere from the first page - all without rambling expository narrative. Also - NO grammatical, spelling or editorial errors. None. Zip.

Story wise... meh. It was good, to be fair, but it didn't measure up to the unreasonably high expectations developed by my love of WotS. There's not much here that qualifies it as gothic, and very little romance. This was a straight forward mystery, spanning generations and centered on Harper's Ferry, West Virginia and people who have such a strong vise-like grip on their own history, the Civil War might as well of happened last week.

The writing was excellent, as I've said. The murder mystery was extremely well-plotted, although I sort of saw the ending coming. The characters were almost all hard to like or not like; the author gave the reader reasons to doubt both the goodness and the evilness of just about every character, except the MC and a handful of others. The romance was almost non-existent. It's a central theme, but the development of it's hardly touched upon at all with no build-up of romantic tension.

I enjoyed this book, and while I'm not going to run out and buy up her backlist, I'm going to keep an eye out for her books. Her writing is first class - I just have to find the stories she's written that hook me the way that first, treasured book did. show less

Phyllis A. Whitney was one of my favorite authors when I was a girl. Her Columbella was one of the two books I checked out the day I proudly received my first adult library card. Eventually I stopped reading romantic suspense, so I hadn't read the last 24 of Ms. Whitney's novels. I picked up one of the later ones a few months ago and enjoyed it. I've been checking out about one a week since.

Even though several plot elements (heroine visits relatives she hasn't known, there's a child, etc.) are familiar in Ms. Whitney's books, I've been finding them very good anyway. Daughter of the Stars is no exception. I'd been wondering why so many of her later novels are set south of the Mason-Dixon line. The foreword offers a simple and logical show more explanation.

This mystery opens with a scene from the Civil War. It'll be quite a few chapters before we find out why some soldiers were shot by men from their own side. It's an ugly story. We're promised that what happened then won't be over for more than a century. Ms. Whitney keeps her promise.

A more recent incident in heroine Lacey Elliot's family involves an unsolved murder that split them apart, leading to flight, a suicide, and voluntary exile. Of course echoes of that murder are still affecting the present. Which relative, if any, is the killer?

If you like strong, elderly female characters -- sympathetic or otherwise -- Ms. Whitney had been delivering them for decades. There are more of them here.

The information about Harper's Ferry was very interesting. If you want to see pictures of some of the places described, there's a virtual tour at the National Park service website. You may hear various singers and versions of the lovely old song, 'Oh, Shenadoah', at youtube. (I found out my schoolgirl memory of the lyrics was even less accurate than I thought.) The Shepherd College where one of the characters teaches is Shepherd University now.

If you're in the mood for some romantic suspense, give this book and Whitney's others a try. My local library doesn't have the space to keep books that haven't been checked out for more than two years. They still have a lot of well-thumbed Whitneys. show less

When I was in elementary school, I loved reading the Bobbsey Twins books, especially the ones where the family took a trip. The story always worked in interesting descriptions of the location and its history. As a teenager, I occasionally read some of Phyllis Whitney's YA mysteries and finally graduated to some of her romantic suspense novels. Just as with the "Bobbsey Twins take a trip" books, I liked them as much for the setting as for the plot. When I was looking at my TBR shelves to see what I already own that I could read for one of my geographical challenges, I discovered this short novel, set in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. I thought I might enjoy an armchair trip to this historic town.

I wasn't expecting great literature, but I show more was hoping for a better story than this turned out to be. The plot seemed like something from a bad soap opera. Lacey Elliot was raised by her mother, who, as far as she knows, is her only relative. While her mother, Amelia, is recovering from surgery and treatment for breast cancer, she receives a letter from a woman in Harpers Ferry asking Amelia to return there and help her face an unnamed man who has just reappeared after a 30 year absence. Lacey learns that the letter writer is her great aunt and she decides to go to Harpers Ferry in her mother's place. Lacey meets many relatives (about one per chapter), who give her bits and pieces of information about the 30 year old tragedy that caused her mother to leave town and cut off her family ties, but none of them is willing to tell her everything they know. They all seem to have independently decided that it's time to confront the past, but since they're all intimidated by each other, they keep asking Lacey to go with them to talk to one of the others. (Lacey's presence is required for every conversation since she is the book's first-person narrator.) The seemingly endless confrontations didn't seem to be leading anywhere, so the climactic scene seemed abrupt and melodramatic rather than suspenseful or scary.

Although I didn't like the story or the characters, I did like the setting. I know more about Harpers Ferry than I did before I read this book. There are other ways to learn about Harpers Ferry without subjecting yourself to a poorly written novel, though, so I'd recommend that others try one of them instead. show less

Whitney's books are the Hallmark Romance Movies of print. Easily read, with a bit of a mystery, generally no actual detective work.
Background, explained in the author's foreword, is a lingering mystery from Civil War days, set in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, centered on the John Brown Raid, and drawing on the then-current environment of the town and the operations of the historical national park.

I've read most of Phyllis Whitney's books. Most of her novels have been quite enjoyable. I found "Daughter of the Stars" to be just so-so. In my opinion, it dragged on too much and I found it to be a bit convoluted. Towards the end, I kept thinking, "this novel ends soon, it better wrap up fairly quickly!" With that being said, the ending felt quite rushed. It was only an okay read.

I've read most of Phyllis Whitney's books. Most of her novels have been quite enjoyable. I found "Daughter of the Stars" to be just so-so. In my opinion, it dragged on too much and I found it to be a bit convoluted. Towards the end, I kept thinking, "this novel ends soon, it better wrap up fairly quickly!" With that being said, the ending felt quite rushed. It was only an okay read.