By Kate Johnson
Little Night by bestselling author Luanne Rice is a sweeping read. As Rice relates a haunting story of love against all odds, the reader experiences full immersion into the characters' actions and emotions.
Even at the very beginning of the novel, the love Clare Burke feels for her estranged sister Anne--chin-deep in an abusive relationship--is tangible. In her desperation to extricate Anne from her controlling husband Frederik, Clare confronts Frederik physically and--on Anne's false testimony--is sent to prison for two years on unfounded assault charges.
After Clare is released from prison, the reader observes the real effects of her time there. Clare is a shell whose only passion is birdwatching--that is, until her niece Grit, Anne's daughter, shows up at her door. The 19-year-old Grit reveals, among other things, that she has been kicked out of college following her parents’ alienation and subsequent retraction of her tuition payments.
As Grit tells Clare more and more about her harrowing childhood, Clare realizes that she has to try again to get Anne back--and to get her life back. Emotions run high as Clare struggles to come to terms with her past and her future, trying to reconcile with the people who truly matter to her.
The book will transport the reader into an extraordinarily inspiring--albeit not always superbly transitory--story of unconditional familial love.
