Under the influence

Title:

Under the influence

Author:

Maynard, Joyce, 1953- author.

Summary:

"A poignant story about the true meaning--and the true price--of friendship. Drinking cost Helen her marriage and custody of her seven-year-old son, Ollie. Once an aspiring art photographer, she now makes ends meet taking portraits of school children and working for a caterer. Recovering from her addiction, she spends lonely evenings checking out profiles on an online dating site. Weekend visits with her son are awkward. He's drifting away from her, fast. When she meets Ava and Swift Havilland, the vulnerable Helen is instantly enchanted. Wealthy, connected philanthropists, they have their own charity devoted to rescuing dogs. Their home is filled with fabulous friends, edgy art, and dazzling parties.Then Helen meets Elliott, a kind, quiet accountant who offers loyalty and love with none of her newfound friends' fireworks. To Swift and Ava, he's boring. But even worse than that, he's unimpressed by them. As Helen increasingly falls under the Havillands' influence--running errands, doing random chores, questioning her relationship with Elliott--Ava and Swift hold out the most seductive gift: their influence and help to regain custody of her son. But the debt Helen owes them is about to come due. Ollie witnesses an accident involving Swift, his grown son, and the daughter of the Havillands' housekeeper. With her young son's future in the balance, Helen must choose between the truth and the friends who have given her everything"-- Provided by publisher.

Physical Description:

327 pages ; 24 cm

Subject Term:

Mothers and sons -- Fiction.

Alcoholism -- Fiction.

Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

Publisher:

William Morrow,

Electronic Access:

Cover image

Publication Date:

2016

ISBN:

9780062257642

9780062257680

Publication Information:

New York, NY : William Morrow, 2016.

Call Number:

MAYNARD

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003104174	Adult Fiction	MAYNARD	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

The New York Times bestselling author of Labor Day and After Her returns with a poignant story about the true meaning--and the true price--of friendship.

Drinking cost Helen her marriage and custody of her seven-year-old son, Ollie. Once an aspiring art photographer, she now makes ends meet taking portraits of school children and working for a caterer. Recovering from her addiction, she spends lonely evenings checking out profiles on an online dating site. Weekend visits with her son are awkward. He's drifting away from her, fast.

When she meets Ava and Swift Havilland, the vulnerable Helen is instantly enchanted. Wealthy, connected philanthropists, they have their own charity devoted to rescuing dogs. Their home is filled with fabulous friends, edgy art, and dazzling parties.

Then Helen meets Elliott, a kind, quiet accountant who offers loyalty and love with none of her newfound friends' fireworks. To Swift and Ava, he's boring. But even worse than that, he's unimpressed by them.

As Helen increasingly falls under the Havillands' influence--running errands, doing random chores, questioning her relationship with Elliott--Ava and Swift hold out the most seductive gift: their influence and help to regain custody of her son. But the debt Helen owes them is about to come due.

Ollie witnesses an accident involving Swift, his grown son, and the daughter of the Havillands' housekeeper. With her young son's future in the balance, Helen must choose between the truth and the friends who have given her everything.

Author Notes

Joyce Maynard was born on November 5, 1953. She first came to national attention in 1973 with the publication of her New York Times cover story An Eighteen-Year-Old Looks Back on Life, which she wrote while a freshman at Yale University. Since then, she has been a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, a syndicated newspaper columnist, and a regular contributor to NPR. Her writing have also been published in numerous magazines including O, The Oprah Magazine; Newsweek; The New York Times Magazine; Forbes; Salon; San Francisco Magazine; and USA Weekly.

She has written both fiction and nonfiction works including The Usual Rules, The Cloud Chamber, Internal Combustion, After Her, and her memoirs Looking Back and At Home in the World. Maynard's memoirs include details about her relationship with J. D. Salinger when she was 18 years old and attending Yale University. To Die For was adapted into a movie starring Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon and Joaquin Phoenix and Labor Day was adapted into a movie starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this, her ninth novel, Maynard depicts one woman's moral dilemma. Helen's first-person narrative details her adult life and how it spiraled out of control after the divorce from her ex-husband Dwight. Helen was devastated after a drinking bout and a DWI led to the loss of custody of her son, Ollie. While working at an art gallery and barely getting by in San Francisco, Helen meets Ava and Swift Havilland, wealthy philanthropists who take her under their wing as Ava agrees to pay Helen to take pictures of her art collection. Ava and Swift also treat Helen to dinners and give her a glimpse of their everyday privileged existence. And when Helen is at her lowest point with her son, who seems uninterested in spending time with her, Swift treats Ollie like a son, teaching him how to swim. Yet what begins as a seemingly altruistic friendship on the part of the Havillands turns into a quid pro quo when a disastrous accident involves Ollie and Helen, forcing them to tell the police the Havillands' versions of events or else become victims of their vicious threats. Maynard's (Labor Day) latest is illuminating and mesmerizing, highlighting not only differing definitions of friendship, but the shades of gray between right and wrong and the lengths to which some will go to protect their self-interest. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal Review

When Ava and Swift Havilland waltz into Helen's life, she's at a low point and is immediately drawn to their easy friendship and overflowing generosity. Instead of worrying about maintaining her sobriety or the mounting lawyer fees for the custody battle with her ex-husband, Helen becomes spellbound by the Havillands' mystique. Ava, confined to a wheelchair, begins relying on Helen for assistance with the couple's charity for dogs, and is in turn an eager confidante. Swift, with his eternal tan and bright, flawless teeth, is charming and larger than life. When Helen introduces her sullen seven-year-old son, Ollie, to Swift during one of her visitation weekends, Ollie is instantly captivated, and Helen envisions a future when she and her son are happily reunited. But all that glitters is not gold, and soon Helen must save herself and her son by turning on the friends who at first saved her. VERDICT Maynard (Labor Day; After Her) quietly portrays Helen's journey of self-discovery in a realistic, plausible way. Her story, though told with great foreboding, is less sinister in the final analysis, but readers will keep reading nonetheless. [See Prepub Alert, 8/24/15.]-Christine Perkins, Whatcom Cty. Lib. Syst., Bellingham, WA © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.