Owen's Daughter

May 12, 2014
This moving 12th novel from Mapson (Finding Casey) explores the importance of fresh starts among a group of people in New Mexico, some of them familiar from Mapson’s previous novels. Sara Kay “Skye” Elliot leaves a rehab clinic, which she’d entered to deal with her alcohol and drug problem, to find that her rodeo rider husband, Rocky—a fellow addict—and four-year-old daughter, Gracie, have vanished. Instead, she is met by her father, Owen, who arrives on horseback, leading alongside him Skye’s beloved horse, Lightning. Determined to make amends for abandoning Skye when she was 12, Owen helps her search for Gracie. In the process, they reconnect with Owen’s true love, painter Margaret Yearwood. She has her own problems, including death, multiple sclerosis, and painful family secrets. Mapson delves deeply into the messy, complex relationships between these people, while rendering the New Mexico landscape so beautifully that it emerges as an additional member of the cast. She has a particularly strong feel for human-animal bonds, creating four-legged (and in one unfortunate case, three-legged) characters that are as distinctive as the human variety. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider Agency.

February 15, 2014

Mapson, popular for novels like Blue Rodeo, Solomon's Oak, and Finding Casey, mixes characters from all three in her latest, not a sequel to any of them but a work that stands on its own. After Skye Elliot gets out of rehab, she searches for daughter Gracie, now in the custody of her ex-husband, even as recovering alcoholic Owen Garret searches for a painter named Margaret he once loved.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014

Mapson performs certain kinds of literary acrobatics with this stand-alone novel. Winding together characters from Solomon's Oak (2010), Finding Casey (2012), and one of her very earliest, Blue Rodeo (1994), she takes her readers on a journey of rediscovery. Like riding through a hometown neighborhood, familiarity calls memories to mind even as characters have grown and changed over the years. Our eponymous heroine is Skye Elliot, fresh from rehab and desperately trying to locate her four-year-old daughter and regain custody. Her first step is finding a ride out of rehab. Margaret Yearwood is struggling to come to terms with a diagnosis of MS when her son Peter appears with plenty of his own troubles and the same rage he exhibited as a teenager. The intersection of lives and families is revelatory and a catalyst for hope and healing. VERDICT Longtime fans of Mapson will be delighted to see their favorite characters meet; readers of Jodi Picoult and Anita Shreve would be well rewarded. Mapson does an incredible job of bringing together beloved characters from past novels without leaving newcomers in the cold. [See Prepub Alert, 1/28/14.]--Julie Kane, Sweet Briar Coll. Lib., VA

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014
Characters from three previous novels-Solomon's Oak, Finding Casey and Blue Rodeo-merge in Mapson's latest, featuring a young mother and an older woman who must cope with unforeseen challenges.Skye Elliot was once an excellent student who dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, but a rodeo circuit rider named Rocky, an unplanned pregnancy and a substance abuse problem derailed her ambitions. Fresh from a long stint in rehab, all Skye now wants is to reclaim her daughter and get a job, but she's taken off guard when her ex-husband doesn't pick her up as expected. Instead, her long-absent father-who's rechristened himself Owen Garret-collects her from the clinic in the New Mexico desert with her beloved horse in tow, and Skye has no choice but to join him. As they embark upon a journey underscored by Skye's anger toward her parents and her frantic search for her daughter, Gracie, Owen offers a straightforward explanation for his extended silence: He was in prison. Skye's resentment begins to dissipate as she views Owen, and eventually others, from a different perspective, but her search for her child hits several obstacles: namely, a broken-down car and a lack of money. Pausing briefly to retrieve Owen's old dog, they finally land in Santa Fe, where, unbeknownst to Owen, his lost love now lives. Painter Margaret Yearwood has recently been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and worried as she is about her ability to cope with the future, she's even more concerned about her adult son. Peter has been deaf since 15 and has recently gotten a cochlear implant, but he suffers from other demons, including a broken marriage and a drinking problem. Mapson connects each character via a ghost's intervention, intuitive animals and a couple's new venture, but the narrative loses clarity and stalls with the introduction of multiple back stories.Despite many positive components, including vivid descriptions of New Mexico's rich culture; endearing dogs and horses; and an inspirational message about surmounting shortcomings, the novel's lumbering pace outweighs all.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

June 1, 2014
While in rehab following the car accident that miraculously only slightly injured her four-year-old daughter, Grace, Sara Kay Elliot changes her name to Skye to mark her rebirth as a wiser, more responsible person. Gone are the dreams of veterinary school. Skye's sole mission is to regain custody of Grace from her ex-husband and his trailer-trash mother. Stranded outside the facility on the day of her release, Skye is rescued by the father who abandoned her when she was not much older than Grace. Like Skye, Bill Samson has rechristened himself after a stint in prison, now going by the name, Owen Garret. Together, the wounded and wary duo make their way to Santa Fe, where Owen is reunited with his former lover, Margaret, an accomplished artist who is battling both MS and the return of her headstrong son, Peter. Reuniting cherished characters from Solomon's Oak (2010) and Finding Casey (2012), Mapson introduces yet another fetching cast of fragile yet resilient personalities who warmly work their ways into readers' hearts.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)