The Absence of Nectar

by Kathy Hepinstall

Book Overview

First-person narrator Alice is a precocious eleven-year-old growing up in rural East Texas with one wish on her mind: Get rid of Simon Jester.Simon is the man who saved her mother from drowning. Simon is her mother's hero, her savior -- and her new husband. He's an enigmatic man whose own family, he says, mysteriously drowned.But soon it becomes apparent that Simon's family did not drown. Alice and her brother become convinced that Simon intends to...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399148019
• ISBN13: 9780399148019
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.7"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

A True Page Turner

What a terrific book about a family that has gone wrong. 11 year old Alice telling the story about her mom, older brother and horrible stepfather who is out to get his stepkids since they "arent his kids." Their mom, who they call Meg, doesnt believe them until the day comes where she tells them to "RUN."The drama kept me guessing all the way through and the plot twists and turns until the last page. I highly recommend this book; now I want to read her first!

Very Compelling

Its nice to read novels by up and comming novelists. This one certainly is quite captivating. Kathy Hepinstall surely knows how to interweave many twists and turns in the story. Its interesting how Boone and Persley influence each other. The description of Simon Jetser's manipulating ways surely sets the tone throughout the book. Meg surely has her weaknesses as a person but definitely surprises the reader in the end. A good account on how children can be trapped in a bad situation. This story certainly gets my seal of approval.

Impossible to put down!

Warning: Before you start reading this book, you better make sure you don't have anything else planned for the next several hours, like household chores, dinner, sleep, that kind of thing. You will find it that hard to put this book down. 'The Absence of Nectar' is told from the point of view of 12-year-old Alice, whose life is turned upside down by two seemingly unrelated events. Her older brother Boone is writing to Perseley, an often-escaping teenage girl locked up for poisoning her parents with Tang. Meanwhile, the mysterious Simon Jester has entered the picture, saving their mother from drowning, marrying her, and seeming as intent to poison his step children, now that his own child is on the way, as Perseley was to poison her parents. Though some of the plot twists are predictable, others are not, leaving the reader guessing the outcome until the very end. But more than a mystery, 'The Absence of Nectar' is a moving coming-of-age story about first love, conflicting loyalties between families and lovers, God versus fate. Definitely a page turner on many levels, this is a great selection for book clubs as well as for general reading. Oprah, are you listening?

A thrilling masterpiece...

When I reviewed Kathy Hepinstall's first novel, House of Gentle Men, I remarked that I didn't know how she could top herself. Well, having completed her newest, The Absence of Nectar, I can confidently say that miracles do happen. Kathy's sophomore release is a true testament to her amazing talent.Eleven-year-old Alice Fendar has a very cynical view of the world now that her father, a man she loved and trusted, left her family. So when Simon Jester, her new stepfather, enters her life, Alice can't help but see him with a wary eye. Mystery surrounds Simon and his first family, a wife and three-year-old son who died in a drowning accident. And along with Simon's temper, crazy ideals about God, and discipline tactics, Alice increasingly become distrustful and hateful. With her mother, Meg, turning a blind eye to everything regarding Simon, Alice's older brother, Boone, is the only one left to join her on her quest to discover the truth about Simon and his past.The Absence of Nectar is a remarkable effort. Each paragraph had the tendency to make you laugh but also chill you to the bone as only a thriller can. The story line was captivating and had me riveted to my seat for hours. Kathy Hepinstall is truly brilliant and one of the greatest masters of fiction that I've ever read. Her books always seem to have some eerie quality or bizarre twist of fate that is utterly addictive. If you've read House of Gentle Men, then prepare to be totally blown away again. If The Absence of Nectar is your first Hepinstall experience, then congratulate yourself for discovering this treasure. Kudos, kudos and more kudos.

Brilliant Dark Comedy Of Overcoming Life With Stepfather

If you like fast-paced action, sitting-on-the-edge of your seat excitement, and nail-biting suspense, you'll enjoy Kathy Hepinstall's newest novel. Eleven-year-old Alice, the most precocious and endearing pre-teen narrator to come along since Scout in "To Kill A Mockingbird," tells the story in first-person. Alice is daring, loyal, spunky, but most of all she is cynical. And she is most cynical of her new stepfather Simon Jester, a car salesman who claims he could no longer deceive people, so has instead appointed himself "God's megaphone." Convinced that Simon murdered his first family, Alice and her brother Boone become convinced Simon is trying to poison their food. She fights him in the only ways she knows---putting hair remover in his shampoo, Tabasco in his lemondade, scratches on his car---all the while trying to convince her mother of the man's true intentions. At first, her mother brushes these allegations off, but when one night she tells Alice and Boone to run, they do indeed run. When they team up with the notorious girl whom Boone has loved from afar, the parent-poisoning Persely Snow, their lives become one mind-boggling adventure after another. But all is not what it seems, and before Alice can come to terms with her many traumas and enjoy the sweet nectar life has to offer, she must deal with a brain-damaged neighbor, twins who prey on helpless creatures, a dimwitted dog, dead bees, and alienation from the brother she adores.You won't find another young narrator as appealing as Alice and her telling of this story makes this dark comedy a pure joy to read.