Lust through the ages, from Henry VIII to Hollywood
Secret Relations
By Annabel Dilke
St. Martin’s, 384 pp., $24.95
Portrait of an Unknown Woman
By Vanora Bennett
William Morrow, 432 pp., $24.95
The Next Thing on My List
By Jill Smolinski
Shaye Areheart, 304 pp., $23
Hollywood Girls Club
By Maggie Marr
Crown, 290 pp., $23.95
Secrets and sex will always be crucial elements of popular literature. In "Secret Relations," Annabel Dilke has fashioned an unsentimental gem, an absorbing portrait of an upper - class English family beset by changes. Like her last novel, "The Inheritance," this story of domestic disintegration among the privileged has obvious social and political resonance, although Dilke doesn't belabor class issues. The year is 1974. Brothers Hector and Lionel are the oldest members of the vast St. Clair clan, a web of relations that includes numerous successful attorneys and at least as many eccentrics.
Dilke opens the story by introducing the next generation, four young first cousins, as they gather at Uncle Hector's grand, decaying country estate for his birthday party, an annual reunion for the whole family. Charlie is reluctantly studying to be an attorney, whipped on by his implacable father, Tom. He adores his cousin Kitty, with whom he shares a London flat, but Kitty is secretly in love with beautiful, unstable cousin Max. Liza, a family embarrassment because she aspires to a singing career, is also smitten by moody Max. Some of the elements of the plot -- repressed emotions, lapses of judgment, criminal behavior, insanity, shame, a long-buried family secret -- are the stuff of melodrama, but Dilke's brilliant storytelling and precise characterizations raise this novel above cliché.
Meg Giggs, an educated, perceptive young woman living in the time of Henry VIII, is the narrator of Vanora Bennett's ambitious, involving first novel, "Portrait of an Unknown Woman." Bennett's heroine is based on the real Meg, the adopted daughter of Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas More, defender of the Roman Catholic faith in an England threatened by the heresies of Lutheran Protestants, on the brink of being torn apart by the king's determination to divorce Queen Catherine and marry Anne Boleyn.
Meg, a self-taught healer, is in love with another More family ward, physician John Clement, a man whose mysterious origins cloud their prospects for happiness. She is also drawn to Hans Holbein, the German artist who, over the course of five years, paints two very different portraits of the extended More family. Bennett weaves Meg's story into the fabric of her times, using her passions, doubts , and conflicting feelings to mirror and illuminate larger issues. Bennett writes gracefully and persuasively, skillfully using historical details to capture the uncertain mood of a turbulent era. Her portrait of the artist Holbein and his work is fascinating, especially her explanation of the ingenious symbolism encoded in his second portrait of the More family. Meg may be the main character, but Holbein is the heart and soul of the story.
Chick Lit doesn't attract much critical respect, but that doesn't dissuade readers from snapping up the latest titles and propelling many to the bestseller list. Some of these novels are formulaic or sloppily written or just plain stupid, but others, such as Jill Smolinski's "The Next Thing on My List," are fresh and fun to read. Narrator June Parker offers new acquaintance Marissa Jones a lift home from a Weight Watchers meeting where Marissa had received her lifetime pin for achieving her 100 - pound weight loss goal. Unfortunately, a large piece of furniture falls into the path of June's car just as Marissa is unbuckling her seatbelt to retrieve a "super filling" taco soup recipe from her purse in the back seat. (The recipe is included .) In the wreckage of her car June finds the late Marissa's purse and, folded inside it, a list detailing the 20 things she wanted to do before she turned 25. Six months later, after encountering Marissa's grieving -- and very good-looking -- brother Troy at her gravesite, guilt-ridden June decides to complete Marissa's list for her. The "to-do" list ranges from the simple ("Wear sexy shoes") to the seemingly impossible ("Change someone's life"). June, a 34-year - old slacker, tackles the list relentlessly . The story is set in Los Angeles, where June works as a writer for a non profit that tries, somewhat fruitlessly, to promote ride-sharing. The details of her life are set out with a deft, light touch.
Maggie Marr's first novel, "Hollywood Girls Club," is a saucy, shamelessly superficial story about four young women determined to make it to the top of the male-dominated movie industry. It's bound to be compared to certain Jackie Collins titles, not just because of the Hollywood subject matter but also because Marr brings a similar ferocious energy to her writing. When movie producer Lydia Albright's film project is sabotaged by the studio's new head of production, she turns for help to her two best friends, tough talent agent Jessica Caulfield and award-winning actress Celeste Solange. Rounding out the foursome is Mary Anne Meyers, who had just given up on Hollywood when Lydia hires her, out of the blue, to doctor the screenplay. The story switches perspectives among the main characters as they plot, scheme, struggle , and fight to make sure Lydia's movie is a success. The plot features romance, sex, loads of fabulous shoes , and the requisite glamorous settings. The ending is mushy, at odds with the rest of this otherwise tartly written entertainment. Author Marr, a movie industry veteran who has worked as a writer, producer , and motion picture literary agent, clearly knows her way around Hollywood.
Diane White writes every month about new light and popular fiction. 