First book by author. Haunting story of the tragedy that befell the Close family leaving Eden blind and her father dead. Truth is slowly revealed years later.

3.5***

When his mother dies, Andrew, an advertising exec in New York City, returns to the family’s upstate New York farm for the funeral. Intending to stay only a few days, he gets caught up in memories of his childhood, of the girl next door, and of the tragic event that changed all their lives.

Eden was a foundling, left in a box near the Close farm’s driveway. Unable to have children of their own, Jim and Edith Close immediately decided to keep her and filed all the legal paperwork to adopt Eden. Her father had always wanted children and he doted on the girl. But Edith was decidedly less welcoming. The frostiness between mother and daughter grew more pronounced as Eden achieved puberty and began the transformation from a tomboy to a stunning beauty.

Andrew having grown up with Eden, treated her like a younger sister. He was somewhat uncomfortable when one of his friends began dating Eden. And then one summer night when Eden was fifteen, Andrew and his parents were awakened by screams and the sound of at least one gunshot. Mr Close was dead, and Eden was wounded. And the boy everyone thought responsible was dead before the police could question him.

The novel is told mostly from Andrew’s point of view. We learn of his marriage, and his pending divorce. We see him at a loose ends, the trip home having unmoored him. He cannot seem to make a decision about selling the house or returning to work. Rather he becomes more and more fixated on Eden Close and what happened to her.

There is some mystery to unravel here regarding that long-ago summer night. Andrew has always been a person who doesn’t really see things, even when they are right in front of him, and he will have to open his eyes to the truth before he can move forward. And Eden will have to learn to forgive herself and believe she is worthy of more. ( )

Don't remember a lot about it, but it was enjoyable. ( )

An absorbing tale about two families, connected by the horror that struck one of them.

Andrew returns to his childhood home for his mother's funeral. His next-door neighbor had been looking out for her until she died. As Andrew sets about putting things in order, he thinks back on the two days that caused sudden change in his neighbors' lives. The first was when a baby was found on the doorstep, and Mr. Close wanted to keep it. The second happened years later, when the baby, now a teen, was blinded in an attack in which her father was killed.

Andrew, in his teen years, had become fond of the precocious tomboy Eden. After the attack, however, he had little time to say good by before he headed off to college. All these years later he has a lot of questions in his head about what might have been. Learning that Eden still lives next door, protected by her mother, he wants to see her. But Mrs. Close is not welcoming. He finds a way.

In his secret meetings with Eden Andrew learns more about her life in the last several years and about who she is now. He also learns more than he meant to about the day the gunshots rang out. ( )

if i wanted to read about a big strong man protecting his wispy waif girlfriend from a cliche abusive mother, i would read literally any book written by a man in the 20th century. next ( )