The Loved Ones

April 20, 2015
The latest from Hughes (Wavemaker II) begins just before Christmas 1969: the snow is coming down fast when Jean Devlin pulls out of her driveway and pauses in the quiet hush of the stormâin part because she can't see, but also to think and remember. The pages that follow set the tempo and sensibility for the rest of the novel, a patchwork of present and past, stitched together so seamlessly it can be unclear when one ends and another begins. This fluidity feels honestly captured and articulated, but a basic clarity is often sacrificed as a result. While Jean alludes to the pain of her pastâa dead son, a wayward husband, and a beloved but unruly brotherâshe watches the snow and feels her solitude deepen. Hughes's novel is tender and sympathetic, but the cascade of familial references, and the snippets of memory that aren't fully explained or connected, never quite catch. As the book evolves and time moves along, through 1970 and into 1971, who, exactly, the characters are continues to feel too slippery, too subtle, too elusive. Despite the gorgeous precision of nearly every sentence (or perhaps because of it), the essential grounding of time and place feels obscured more often than notâlike something in a snowstorm that's right there but can't quite be distinguished. Agent: Melanie Jackson, Melanie Jackson Agency.

May 1, 2015
In 1969, Jean and Nick Devlin and their daughter, Lily, are living what seem to be perfect lives in Connecticut. The family home is a showcase, a gift from Jean's father and the object of her fastidious attentions. Lily attends a private Catholic school, and Nick is an upwardly mobile executive in the cosmetics industry. But as with any pristine scenario, all is not what it seems. Nick and Jean have been devastated by the death of their eight-year-old son. Nick spends a lot of time in London under the influence of his morally bankrupt brother, Lionel. Meanwhile, Lily tries to navigate adolescence, watched carefully by the nuns at school and deeply influenced by her rebellious best friend, Margaret. The first chapters of Hughes' (Double Happiness, 2010) latest deliver a mind-boggling amount of information; as a result, the narrative feels choppy and confusing. As the plot reaches its dramatic conclusion, this cryptic style of delivery lessens its power. Despite its presentation, it is clear that Hughes is a very talented writer, and the novel succeeds as a deeply emotional story of one family's struggles.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

April 1, 2015
Hughes (Double Happiness, 2010, etc.) follows a family reeling from the loss of a child through two disordered years in New Jersey and London. It's not just the death of 8-year-old Cubbie that's weighing on Nick, Jean, and Lily Devlin as the novel opens in 1969. Nick has been pressured by his manipulative, amoral brother, Lionel, to take a London-based job with volatile cosmetics tycoon Billy Byron, and Jean is unhappy about relocating to England from their home in Gooseneck Cove, a wedding present from her adored father that she's turned into a showcase. Eighth-grader Lily is struggling to master the intricacies of early-adolescent social interactions; her self-assurance isn't bolstered by the condescension of her mean-girl best friend, Margaret, and she displays an unfortunate weakness for boys who alternately entice and reject her. The first few chapters are a whirl of names and relationships that don't yet make a lot of sense, since Hughes is lavish with allusions and sparing with concrete information, which tends to arrive piecemeal. It's quickly clear, however, that Jean is fonder of her brother-in-law than she should be, even though Lionel has landed Nick into serious trouble before, and that Nick likes to indulge himself with intoxicants and extramarital sex, a tendency that will only worsen in London. The family dynamic is somewhat reminiscent of Hughes' previous novel, Wavemaker II (2001), as is the mood of lurking dread. Here, the withholding narrative style effectively induces in readers the same state of disorientation that envelops all three Devlins in London (whose business and social scenes are depicted as vicious and corrupt), but it also tends to alienate us from the characters. Final plot twists and long-delayed revelations back in the U.S. are shocking but delivered in an elliptical manner that muffles their emotional impact. No question about this author's gift for striking imagery and vivid scene-setting, but her characterizations could be deeper, and she might consider the possibility that atmosphere is not everything.