Halfway Home

by Mary Sheldon

Book Overview

The lives of a long-separated mother and daughter unfold in Mary Sheldon's poignant story of the pain that puts readers on the path to the past. Told in two characters alternating voices, it is a story of regret and reconciliation, and of two people whose lives are forever, fatefully entwined.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0758200536
• ISBN13: 9780758200532
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

A Must-Read

This book has very strong and real-life characters that will stay with you for many weeks or even months to come.Very well written with much depth,just like her father's novels. I agree the ending was too abrupt and don't know why the book is called 'Halfway Home' when that really wasn't what the story revovles around.But all-in- all,great book and would recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good story.

Halfway Home Goes All The Way

This is a truly wonderful novel. The story centers around a succesful career woman's struggle to learn about her mother while at the same time working to help a class of at risk teens. The plots are woven flawlessly together like a tapestry excpet these people are three dimensional and they feel very much alive.

A HEARTFELT AND COMPELLING TALE OF TWO WOMEN

Critics who call Halfway Home Mary Sheldon's debut novel apparently weren't of reading age when she authored Portrait of Rosemary, Under The Influence, Perhaps I'll Dream of Darkness, and other novels, going back some twenty-one years. Like her superstar father Sidney, Mary Sheldon has always been eminently readable, both in her fiction and nonfiction works, but, this time around, new maturity, texture, and depth are revealed and reflected.Rich and famous, Alexis is a married, Manhattan-based interior designer, blessed with everything, excepting a talent for happiness. Maggie is the controversial actress-mother who abandoned Alexis in childhood. In alternating chapters, Alexis and Maggie tell their sides of the story. Alexis tells her tale directly to the reader. Maggie's side of things is revealed during a rare and uncharacteristically frank print interview. Both women's versions are compelling, thought-provoking, and thoroughly convincing.Alexis writes new personal history when she begins teaching three teens from a Hell's Kitchen halfway home. Eventually one of her students becomes too close for comfort - both for her husband's comfort, and, ultimately, for her own. Throughout the novel, the author's fictional creations seem more like flesh and blood reality than fabrication.Although Mary Sheldon explores adult themes, this deftly-written volume is one that you can buy with confidence - first, for yourself, and then for your favorite teen or adult reader. Start to sobering finish, Mary Sheldon takes us on an artful, heartfelt, and entertaining ride.

A HEARTFELT AND COMPELLING TALE OF TWO WOMEN

Critics who call Halfway Home Mary Sheldon's debut novel apparently weren't of reading age when she authored Portrait of Rosemary, Under The Influence, The Shadow Girl, and other novels, going back some twenty-one years. This is not a promising freshman. This is a promise fulfilled. Like her superstar father Sidney, Mary Sheldon has always been eminently readable, both in her fiction and nonfiction works, but, this time around, new maturity, depth, and texture are revealed and reflected.Rich and famous, Alexis is a married, Manhattan-based interior designer, blessed with everything, excepting a talent for happiness. Maggie is the controversial actress-mother who abandoned Alexis in childhood. In alternating chapters, Alexis and Maggie tell their sides of the story. Alexis recounts her tale directly to the reader. In Paris, Maggie's side of things is revealed during a rare and uncharacterically frank print interview. Both women's versions of their lives are compelling, thought-provoking, and thoroughly convincing.Alexis pens new personal history when she begins teaching three teens from a Hell's Kitchen halfway home. Eventually one of Alexis's students gets too close for comfort - both for her husband's comfort, and, ultimately, for her own. Throughout the book, Sheldon's fictional creations seem more like flesh and blood reality than fabrication.Although the author explores adult themes, this deftly-written novel is one that you can buy with confidence - first, for yourself, and then for your favorite teen or adult reader. Start to sobering finish, Mary Sheldon takes us on an artful, heartfelt, and entertaining ride.

A HEARTFELT AND COMPELLING TALE OF TWO WOMEN

Critics who call Halfway Home Mary Sheldon's debut novel apparently weren't of reading age when she authored Portrait of Rosemary, Under The Influence, Perhaps I'll Dream of Darkness, and other novels, going back some twenty-one years. Like her superstar father Sidney, Mary Sheldon has always been eminently readable, both in her fiction and nonfiction works, but, this time around, new maturity, texture, and depth are revealed and reflected.Rich and famous, Alexis is a married, Manhattan-based interior designer, blessed with everything, excepting a talent for happiness. Maggie is the controversial actress-mother who abandoned Alexis in childhood. In alternating chapters, Alexis and Maggie tell their sides of the story. Alexis tells her tale directly to the reader. Maggie's side of things is revealed during a rare and uncharacteristically frank print interview. Both women's versions are compelling, thought-provoking, and thoroughly convincing.Alexis writes new personal history when she begins teaching three teens from a Hell's Kitchen halfway home. Eventually one of her students becomes too close for comfort - both for her husband's comfort, and, ultimately, for her own. Throughout the novel, the author's fictional creations seem more like flesh and blood reality than fabrications.Although Mary Sheldon explores adult themes, this deftly-written volume is one that you can buy with confidence - first, for yourself, and then for your favorite teen or adult reader. Start to sobering finish, Mary Sheldon takes us on an artful, heartfelt, and entertaining ride.