Wavemaker II

by Mary-Beth Hughes

Book Overview

National bestseller Wavemaker II is a heart-stopping story of what happens when one man takes a fall for another, leaving his family in disarray. Called succinct and completely unsentimental by Time Out New York, Hughes's novel is flawlessly executed, full of rich, nuanced characters and sensuous detail.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802139825
• ISBN13: 9780802139825
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

A Tidal Wave in a Tea Pot.

In just 200 terse pages, Mary-Beth Hughes knocks this novel absolutely out of the park. I've rarely seen any writer, no matter how gifted, pack this much talent, pathos, and intrigue into so few pages. The setting is summer, New York City, 1964. Family man Will Clemens takes one for the team, refusing to rat out fast-talking lawyer Roy Cohn, and is rewarded with a prison term. Will leaves behind a frantically disordered and struggling suburban home--it's all his wife Kay can do to watch over their son Bo, who is deathly ill with a relatively (at this time) unknown disease. Daughter Lou-Lou is left in the lurch, shunted too and fro between neighbors and friends as her parents attention is obviously focused elsewhere. Hughes alternates back and forth between each family member's perspective with a dizzying flair and ease, preparing the reader for an ending that turns out to be nothing like what you expected. Great Stuff!

Roy Cohn--From a Completely Different Angle

Wavemaker II is an interesting little novel, if a bit odd in its take. The novel concerns what happens to a New Jersey family when the husband-father figure is imprisoned for refusing to testify against Roy Cohn in the early sixties. We see bits and pieces of Cohn, and he ultimately comes to the family's rescue, but this novel is certainly not what you would expect. It is not about Roy Cohn or any of his activities. It is about an American family and how they survive the near fatal illness of one of their children coupled with the imprisonment of the father. That's what is sort of odd about it. It's take is refreshingly unexpected and the writing is very strong. Overall, an interesting and different read.