Absorbing.
More Magazine on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
Maynard is a clever storyteller.
Seattle Times on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
Maynard’s spare prose packs a rich emotional punch...a can’t put-it-down mystery.
People on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
Vividly rendered.
Tampa Tribune on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
An affecting portrait of the relationship between a father and his daughters.
Passionate, profound, and as stunning as a sparking live wire coming slowly and irrevocably toward you, Maynard’s latest is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Though you will be tempted, try not to turn the pages of this complex thriller too fast: you will miss a tender elegy, an evocative coming-of-age story, and a tribute to the enduring bonds of sisterhood.
Dazzling.
Maynard writes great characters and craft a story that will not let you go.
Bookreporter.com on AFTER HER
[The] story is moving and fast-moving, affirming Maynard’s reputation as a master storyteller and showing her to be a passionate humanist with a gifted ear and heart. . . . Maynard illuminates the human experience.
[F]ar from a simple whodunit... [Maynard] deftly conveys that we are never truly safe, but that we can’t let fear stand in the way of our becoming who we want to be.
Bestselling author Maynard (The Good Daughters) returns with the story of a broken family rocked by a real-life Bay Area serial killer. Rachel Torricelli and her younger sister, Patty, idolized their father, a homicide detective with a voice like Dino and an insatiable love for women—especially his daughters. After divorce split up their home, he mostly disappeared, and Rachel, who recounts the story as an adult (and a mystery writer), was content playing backyard games and bossing Patty around. But their play is tinged with darkness in the summer of 1979, when murders begin occurring along Marin County’s hiking trails. The girls’ father is on the case and his sudden star power makes Rachel popular, but she can’t resist chasing clues (some courtesy of “visions”), putting her and her sister in harm’s way. Maynard captures the way that memory works in fragments: Rachel recalls “My Sharona” as the soundtrack of the summer, fusing her perspective with that of the killer, who sings it to his victims. Her retelling also flip-flops seamlessly from her teenage anxieties to the front-page news—a testament to Maynard’s narrative dexterity. This cinematic coming-of-age murder mystery satisfyingly blends suspense with nostalgia. Agent: David Kuhn, Kuhn Projects. (Sept.)
[Maynard] weav(es) a knotty tale of family secrets, told in the alternating voices of her likable main characters.” — Entertainment Weekly on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“The Good Daughters shows Maynard’s strengths once again—particularly in vivid descriptions of farm life, geographies, and relationships of all kinds. Passions and psychological changes in a character over time ring most true.” — Providence Journal
“Absorbing.” — More Magazine on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“An evocative story . . . [Maynard] consistently brings emotional authenticity to the long arc of her characters’ lives and to the joy and loss they experience. A profoundly moving chronicle of the primacy of family connection.” — Booklist on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“An impressive writer...with a fine sense of time, of place, of humor.” — Buffalo News on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“Exquisite . . . . [A] beautifully written book.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on THE GOOD DAUGTHERS
“In addition to being a beautiful and engaging story, Maynard deftly captures Dana’s struggle to come to terms with her sexuality in the midst of her family’s instability. And her relationship with Clarice is one of the strongest in the novel. Highly recommended. ” — AfterEllen.com on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“Maynard is a clever storyteller.” — Seattle Times on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“Maynard’s spare prose packs a rich emotional punch...a can’t put-it-down mystery.” — People on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“Vividly rendered.” — Tampa Tribune on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
“[The] story is moving and fast-moving, affirming Maynard’s reputation as a master storyteller and showing her to be a passionate humanist with a gifted ear and heart. . . . Maynard illuminates the human experience.” — People (Four Stars)
“an uplifting story told by a boy who is just beginning to understand what life is all about.” — St. Petersburg Times
“Labor Day is suffused with tenderness, dreaminess and love....first and foremost a page-turner...[it] puts back together the world that it destroys....you definitely need to get a box of tissues.” — Newsday
“Dazzling.” — Jules Siegel, San Francisco Chronicle on At Home in the World
“It is a testament to Maynard’s skill that she makes this ominous setup into a convincing and poignant coming-of-age tale.” — Washington Post
“Part family reminiscence, part girl detective story, After Her combines the intimacy of one teen’s coming-of-age with the suspense of a serial killer mystery. With warmth and redeeming humor, Joyce Maynard delivers the terror and confusion of adolescence.” — Stewart O'Nan, author of Snow Angels and The Speed Queen
“Joyce Maynard’s latest novel, After Her, is a suspenseful page-turning mystery, but even more compelling is her memorable portrait of a thirteen-year-old girl and the complicated world she shares with her sister; the intricate details of their life are sometimes hilarious, often heartbreaking, and always endearing.” — Jill McCorkle, author of Life After Life on AFTER HER
“Passionate, profound, and as stunning as a sparking live wire coming slowly and irrevocably toward you, Maynard’s latest is nothing short of a masterpiece.” — Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You and Is This Tomorrow
“Though you will be tempted, try not to turn the pages of this complex thriller too fast: you will miss a tender elegy, an evocative coming-of-age story, and a tribute to the enduring bonds of sisterhood.” — Christopher Castellani, author of All This Talk of Love on AFTER HER
“An affecting portrait of the relationship between a father and his daughters.” — Booklist on AFTER HER
“Maynard writes great characters and craft a story that will not let you go.” — Bookreporter.com on AFTER HER
“[F]ar from a simple whodunit... [Maynard] deftly conveys that we are never truly safe, but that we can’t let fear stand in the way of our becoming who we want to be.” — Real Simple on AFTER HER
“Veteran novelist Joyce Maynard has returned with a coming of age story woven into a serial killer investigation that is both evocative and captivating.” — Seattle Post-Intelligencer on AFTER HER
“Loosely based on the “Trailside Killer” slayings of the 1970s, the story jumps from history into a many-layered exploration of sibling bonds and innocence.” — San Jose Mercury News on AFTER HER
“After Her is a masterful piece of storytelling with bits of humor to offset the suspenseful emotions.” — Shelf Awareness on AFTER HER
“After Her is an excellent novel, dealing deftly and tenderly with a young girl’s coming of age and loss of innocence, presenting us with characters as great and as flawed as the people we see every day. Here we have a great author writing at the top of her form.” — 5MinutesforMom.com on AFTER HER
The Good Daughters shows Maynard’s strengths once again—particularly in vivid descriptions of farm life, geographies, and relationships of all kinds. Passions and psychological changes in a character over time ring most true.
[Maynard] weav(es) a knotty tale of family secrets, told in the alternating voices of her likable main characters.
Entertainment Weekly on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
An evocative story . . . [Maynard] consistently brings emotional authenticity to the long arc of her characters’ lives and to the joy and loss they experience. A profoundly moving chronicle of the primacy of family connection.
Booklist on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
In addition to being a beautiful and engaging story, Maynard deftly captures Dana’s struggle to come to terms with her sexuality in the midst of her family’s instability. And her relationship with Clarice is one of the strongest in the novel. Highly recommended.
AfterEllen.com on THE GOOD DAUGHTERS
Labor Day is suffused with tenderness, dreaminess and love....first and foremost a page-turner...[it] puts back together the world that it destroys....you definitely need to get a box of tissues.
an uplifting story told by a boy who is just beginning to understand what life is all about.
It is a testament to Maynard’s skill that she makes this ominous setup into a convincing and poignant coming-of-age tale.
After Her is an excellent novel, dealing deftly and tenderly with a young girl’s coming of age and loss of innocence, presenting us with characters as great and as flawed as the people we see every day. Here we have a great author writing at the top of her form.
5MinutesforMom.com on AFTER HER
Joyce Maynard’s latest novel, After Her, is a suspenseful page-turning mystery, but even more compelling is her memorable portrait of a thirteen-year-old girl and the complicated world she shares with her sister; the intricate details of their life are sometimes hilarious, often heartbreaking, and always endearing.
Loosely based on the “Trailside Killer” slayings of the 1970s, the story jumps from history into a many-layered exploration of sibling bonds and innocence.
San Jose Mercury News on AFTER HER
After Her is a masterful piece of storytelling with bits of humor to offset the suspenseful emotions.
Shelf Awareness on AFTER HER
Veteran novelist Joyce Maynard has returned with a coming of age story woven into a serial killer investigation that is both evocative and captivating.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer on AFTER HER
Part family reminiscence, part girl detective story, After Her combines the intimacy of one teen’s coming-of-age with the suspense of a serial killer mystery. With warmth and redeeming humor, Joyce Maynard delivers the terror and confusion of adolescence.
It is a testament to Maynard’s skill that she makes this ominous setup into a convincing and poignant coming-of-age tale.
"[The] story is moving and fast-moving, affirming Maynard’s reputation as a master storyteller and showing her to be a passionate humanist with a gifted ear and heart. . . . Maynard illuminates the human experience."
(Four Stars) - People Magazine
“[The] story is moving and fast-moving, affirming Maynard’s reputation as a master storyteller and showing her to be a passionate humanist with a gifted ear and heart. . . . Maynard illuminates the human experience.
Cycling through big themes--love for a flawed father and a loyal sister; the pursuit of a serial killer; coming-of-age/receiving of family wisdom--Maynard's (The Good Daughters , 2010, etc.) latest starts strong but fades. Thirteen-year-old Rachel Torricelli, inseparable big sister of Patty, narrates the story, set in the San Francisco suburbs of the late 1970s. Both girls adore their father, Anthony, a charismatic but inconstant police detective who quits the family home when Rachel is 8, leaving their fragile mother depressed and short of cash. The girls' playground, right behind their house, is Mount Tamalpais, a place full of possibilities, until the Sunset Strangler begins raping and murdering women there. With her handsome father on television leading the murder investigation, Rachel suddenly finds herself popular and attractive to boys. Her busy imagination--she aspires to be a writer--leads to speculation on sex and death and "visions" of the killings. But, despite authorial teasers, the story loses momentum as the sequence of murders grows and Detective Torricelli fails to solve them, diminishing him in the eyes of everyone. With the time frame speeding up, the novel thins out, ending in a speedy, decades-later wrap-up that offers more tidiness than conviction. There's fluency and insight here but also a shortage of subtlety, with the book's underpinnings too visible through its skin.
