Synopses & Reviews
Praise for The Heat of the Moon... A stylish, original, compulsively readable debut. Parshall explores the darkest side of family love and longing with pitch-perfect, highly engaging characters and a stunning end-game surprise. -Judith Kelman, Mary Higgins Clark Award winner A honey of a yarn, a spooky, inverted fairy tale in which the princess (a plucky, endearing veterinarian) is held captive in her mother's castle, and nothing is as it seems. -Barbara Rogan, author of Suspicion Young veterinarian Rachel Goddard's world begins to crumble when a client rushes into the animal hospital with a basset hound struck by a car during a thunderstorm. The dog owner's terrified tot, drenched with rain, loses sight of her mother in the flurry of activity and screams, Mommy I want Mommy Instantly Rachel is hurled back in time to a day in her own childhood when her baby sister Michelle uttered the same cry while thunder crashed and rain poured down on them. The un-earthed memory feels like a fragment from a nightmare, and Rachel's quest for an explanation takes her deep into her own memory as well as halfway across the country. The heartbreaking truth she uncovers will shatter her world and force her to make an unthinkable choice. Sandra Parshall grew up in South Carolina and has worked as a reporter on newspapers in South Carolina, West Virginia, and Baltimore. She lives and writes in Northern Virginia. The Heat of the Moon is her debut novel. www.sandraparshall.com
Review
""Parshall's debut is a captivating tale of suspense and romance with Gothic twists. Set in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., the story focuses on Rachel Goddard, a young veterinarian who, with her younger sister, Michelle, still lives in her mother's house. The sisters' father died in a car accident when Rachel was a child, but her mother remains reluctant to discuss any of the details-and downright hostile when Rachel starts asking more difficult questions prompted by a repressed childhood memory that pops into her head. Complicating matters is Rachel's new boss, the handsome vet Dr. Luke Campbell, with whom Rachel experiences much more than puppy love. When Luke encourages Rachel to keep probing into her childhood, her mother insists that Rachel end the relationship. Readers will root for Rachel as she fights her cold mother and weak sister for the truth about what happened to her father-and discovers some disturbing things about herself. A standout debut that effectively crosses subgenres-more psychologically astute than many romantic-suspense tales, yet more romantic than high-end psychological thrillers."" -Jenny McLarin--Booklist
Review
"In Parshall's strong debut, a frightening psychological mystery, veterinarian Rachel Goddard is happy with her job at an animal hospital in McLean, Va., until the rainy day one of her favorite patients, a basset hound named Maude, is hit by a car. During the frantic moments when Maude's owner, Mrs. Coleman, delivers the injured dog to the hospital, Rachel finds herself trying to comfort the woman's three-year-old daughter, Kristin, who's upset because she's temporarily separated from her mother. This traumatic incident reminds Rachel of her younger sister as a child, provoking flashbacks that begin to haunt and torment her. The hospital's attractive new head doctor, Luke Campbell, can't quell her anguish as she searches for answers about her past, against the wishes of her own controlling mother and sister. Luke's behavior at a dinner party in one scene is unconvincing, but otherwise the characters are believable and natural. The fresh, mesmerizing plot will keep readers turning the pages to the very end."(June)--Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
Young veterinarian Rachel Goddard's world begins to crumble when a client rushes into the animal hospital with a basset hound struck by a car during a thunderstorm. The dog owner's terrified tot, drenched with rain, loses sight of her mother in the flurry of activity and screams, ""Mommy! I want Mommy!"" Instantly Rachel is hurled back in time to a day in her own childhood when her baby sister Michelle uttered the same cry while thunder crashed and rain poured down on them. The unearthed memory feels like a fragment from a nightmare, and Rachel doesn't understand its meaning or the anguish it stirs up in her.
When she seeks answers she learns nothing from Michelle or from Judith, their loving but manipulative mother. Judith is a psychologist who is only too happy to have her adult daughters still living in her elegant Tudor house outside Washington, DC. But their apparently serene home is a house of secrets where Judith's unspoken rules forbid questions about the family history or the daughters' long-dead father. As more baffling memories surface, Rachel begins to suspect that nothing about her family is what it seems. Fighting her mother's attempts to control her, Rachel embarks on a quest that takes her deep into her own memory as well as halfway across the country. The heartbreaking truth she uncovers will shatter her world and force her to make an unthinkable choice.
The Heat of the Moon is Sandra Parshall's first novel.
Synopsis
Winner of the 2007 Agatha Award for Best First Novel
If a door suddenly swings wide in your memory, what would you see?
Young veterinarian Rachel Goddard's world begins to crumble when a client rushes into the animal hospital with a basset hound struck by a car during a thunderstorm. The dog owner's terrified tot, drenched with rain, loses sight of her mother in the flurry of activity and screams, Mommy I want Mommy Instantly Rachel is hurled back in time to a day in her own childhood when her baby sister Michelle uttered the same cry while thunder crashed and rain poured down on them. The unearthed memory feels like a fragment from a nightmare, and Rachel doesn't understand its meaning or the anguish it stirs up in her.
When she seeks answers she learns nothing from Michelle or from Judith, their loving but manipulative mother. Judith is a psychologist who is only too happy to have her adult daughters still living in her elegant Tudor house outside Washington, DC. But their apparently serene home is a house of secrets where Judith's unspoken rules forbid questions about the family history or the daughters' long-dead father. As more baffling memories surface, Rachel begins to suspect that nothing about her family is what it seems. As her mother's attempts to control her accelerate, Rachel embarks on a quest that takes her deep into her own memory as well as halfway across the country. The heartbreaking truth she uncovers will shatter her world and force her to make an unthinkable choice.
About the Author
Sandra Parshall grew up in South Carolina and has worked as a reporter on newspapers in South Carolina, West Virginia, and Baltimore. She lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, a long-time Washington journalist, and three cats.