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Sam Hill always saw the world through different eyes. Born with red pupils, he was called “Devil Boy” or Sam “Hell” by his classmates; “God’s will” is what his mother called his ocular albinism. Her words were of little comfort, but Sam persevered, buoyed by his mother’s devout faith, his father’s practical wisdom, and his two other misfit friends.
Sam believed it was God who sent Ernie Cantwell, the only African American kid in his class, to be the friend he so desperately needed. And that it was God’s idea for Mickie Kennedy to storm into Our Lady of Mercy like a tornado, uprooting every rule Sam had been taught about boys and girls.
Forty years later, Sam, a small-town eye doctor, is no longer certain anything was by design—especially not the tragedy that caused him to turn his back on his friends, his hometown, and the life he’d always known. Running from the pain, eyes closed, served little purpose. Now, as he looks back on his life, Sam embarks on a journey that will take him halfway around the world. This time, his eyes are wide open—bringing into clear view what changed him, defined him, and made him so afraid, until he can finally see what truly matters.
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When a group of neighborhood women gathers, wine in hand, around a fire pit where their backyards meet one Saturday night, most of them are just ecstatic to have discovered that their baby monitors reach that far. It’s a rare kid-free night, and they’re giddy with it. They drink too much, and the conversation turns personal.
By Monday morning, one of them is gone.
Everyone knows something about everyone else in the quirky small Ohio town of Yellow Springs, but no one can make sense of the disappearance. Kristin was a sociable twin mom, college administrator, and doctor’s wife who didn’t seem all that bothered by her impending divorce—and the investigation turns up more questions than answers, with her husband, Paul, at the center. For her closest neighbor, Clara, the incident triggers memories she thought she’d put behind her—and when she’s unable to extract herself from the widening circle of scrutiny, her own suspicions quickly grow. But the neighborhood’s newest addition, Izzy, is determined not to jump to any conclusions—especially since she’s dealing with a crisis of her own.
As the police investigation goes from a media circus to a cold case, the neighbors are forced to reexamine what’s going on behind their own closed doors—and to ask how well anyone really knows anyone else.
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ALICIA
Alicia Berenson writes a diary as a release, an outlet – and to prove to her beloved husband that everything is fine. She can’t bear the thought of worrying Gabriel, or causing him pain.
Until, late one evening, Alicia shoots Gabriel five times and then never speaks another word.
Alicia's refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.
THEO
Forensic psychotherapist Theo Faber is convinced he can successfully treat Alicia, where all others have failed. Obsessed with investigating her crime, his discoveries suggest Alicia’s silence goes far deeper than he first thought. Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations--a search for the truth that threatens to consume him...
And if she speaks, would he want to hear the truth?
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| Entrance--anticipation! |
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Mr. P. Daniel Ladner was born in Presque Isle in 1937, the son of Fay and Viola Ladner, and graduated from Mapleton High School in 1955 as valedictorian and president of his graduating class. He went on to study band directing at Boston University, but, after a semester, transferred to Aroostook State Teachers College (now UMPI) and graduated as president of his class in 1959 with a degree in education. He served as a fifth grade teacher in Presque Isle for 10 years and as an English and public speaking teacher at Presque Isle High School for 15 years after that. During his time at the high school, he directed the high school chorus and drama club and helped found the Shipmates Playhouse. He later worked as the Director of the UMPI Upward Bound program for five years, and for 10 years as the director of the Caribou Performing Arts Center, where he produced numerous Broadway musicals while also teaching drama and speech for Caribou High School.
Throughout his career and since his retirement in 1999, Ladner has been highly involved in his community. Between 1973 and 1994, he served as a driving force with UMPI’s Pioneer Playhouse, performing, directing, and supporting the local theater group in presenting more than 80 productions on the Wieden Auditorium stage. He starred in countless plays on campus, including the Centennial Homecoming dinner theater production in 2003, and directed the first musical in which now-famous, Tony-nominated actor John Cariani starred. He is a founding member and the first president of the Presque Isle Community Players, established in 1989. Ladner has also served as a judge for many state drama festivals at the regional and state levels, as host of County Tele Quiz—a high school quiz show that aired on WAGM in the 1970s and 1980s, and as a judge in the United Way of Aroostook’s Northern Star competition.
Along the way, he has received numerous accolades. He was named a lifetime member of the New England Drama Council in 1987, the Citizen of the Year by the City of Presque Isle in 1988, the recipient of the Spirit of Caribou award in 1997, the recipient of the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award from the Maine Arts Sponsors Association, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Presque Isle Chamber of Commerce in 2004. He has twice received UMPI’s Distinguished Alumni Award, and the Maine Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association named him Choral Director of the Year.
He continues to serve as the director of the Caribou Choral Society, a position he has held since 1977, and as the organist and choir director at St. Mary’s Catholic Church and Grant Memorial United Methodist Church, both in Presque Isle. He also has been an active member of the American Choral Directors Association and the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. In addition, he has been a member of the Caribou Rotary Club since 2000, and has twice been named a Paul Harris Fellow, one of the most prestigious honors given by the international organization.
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It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes.
The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality.
A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.
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