Product Description

A young widow raising two boys, Sarah Laden is struggling to keep her family together. But when a shocking revelation rips apart the family of her closest friend, Sarah finds herself welcoming yet another troubled young boy into her already tumultuous life.

Jordan, a quiet, reclusive elementary school classmate of Sarah's son Danny, has survived a terrible ordeal. By agreeing to become Jordan's foster mother, Sarah will be forced to question the things she has long believed. And as the delicate threads that bind their family begin to unravel, all the Ladens will have to face difficult truths about themselves and one another—and discover the power of love necessary to forgive and to heal.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14375 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-01
• Released on: 2007-01-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Master caterer Sarah Laden is barely holding her life together as a widow with two difficult sons—recalcitrant teen Nate and troubled fifth-grader Danny—when the unthinkable happens. Her best friend and neighbor, Courtney Kendrick, is arrested in a child sex abuse scandal. Courtney's husband has vanished; their 11-year-old son, Jordan, is in the hospital recovering from a suicide attempt; and across the street Nate is finding, in Jordan's backpack, evidence of unthinkable abuse. Kittle (Traveling Light; Two Truths and a Lie) crafts a disturbing but compelling story line, as Sarah, Nate and Jordan uncover and come to terms with the horror in alternating chapters. Sarah, for instance, is shocked to learn that she dropped off food for the Kendricks' sex parties; Jordan must decide whether or not he wants to continue a relationship with his mother—who insists she's innocent—if and when she gets acquitted. Kittle's research sits awkwardly in expository dialogue—"One in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before their eighteenth birthdays," intones the detective who will later become Sarah's love interest—but it doesn't slow the momentum. Though the movement is toward healing, there are bumpy roads ahead for everybody in this melodramatic but gripping read. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Sarah Laden is a widow with two sons, Nate and Danny, and a thriving catering business. Her best friend, Courtney, helped her through the horrible days after her husband's death and is always there when she's needed. Her son, Jordan, is even Danny's best friend. Then one day all that changes. In a nightmare chain of events, Sarah discovers that she really didn't know Courtney at all and poor, odd Jordan has been living a hell no one could imagine. As Courtney waits in jail, Sarah decides at the request of her older son, Nate, to take on the foster care of Jordan, with all its painful ramifications. Child sexual abuse is hard to read about and Kittle sometimes gets a little heavy-handed with her facts and statistics. But told through the perspectives of Sarah, Nate, Danny, and Jordan, this is ultimately an attractive story of ordinary people trying to make the best of an awful situation and finding the healing power of love and forgiveness in the process. Elizabeth Dickie
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"A moving novel.... Kittle’s clear prose gives a luminous quality to her story of thriving against the odds." -- People

"Kittle crafts a disturbing but compelling story line.... [A] gripping read." -- Publishers Weekly

"Thanks to the author’s exceptionally fluent narrative skill, [this] novel... becomes utterly compelling.... [A] heartbreaking story." -- Kirkus Reviews

Customer Reviews

loved this book
The subject matter is quite disturbing but if you can get past that, this book is very well written and opens your eyes to things that could be happening right next door.

Kindness and streetcars
Kittle takes on a very difficult topic here -- the incestuous sexual abuse of children -- and does a fairly good job with it The story itself was compelling, and, for hte most part, the main characters were well drawn, although I would have liked to read more about Danny's character and motivations; mostly he just feels like a 2 dimensional character thrown in for plot purposes. The 'reveal" at the end does fill in some gaps on the character portrayal, but it comes a bit late.I did, however, enjoy looking for the parallels between The Kindness of Strangers and the Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire, the main one being, I suppose, that we depend on the kindness of others to overlook our flaws and sins to help us keep our social facades in place. "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." is a very famous line from Tennessee Williams' play A Streetcar Named Desire. The line is spoken by Blanche Dubois as she is led away to the mental institution to which Stanley has committed her (her breakdown being caused by Stanley raping her).Throughout Streetcar, Blanche puts up a grand facade, clinging to her mask of "Southern Belle" and hiding the fact that she is an alcoholic and that she has been fired from her teaching job because she had an affair with a 17 year old student. Her marriage has also been broken up due to her husband's having a homosexual affair -- her discovery of which leads to his suicide (in the play at least, it was glossed over in the movie). In the play, Blanche creates the self that she wants others to see through her words, jsut as Courtney does in the book, by telling people what she knows they want to hear. Both rely on our impulse to see the best in others in order to create the selves they the public to perceive and to make themselves less "guilty" in their own eyes.

Can't Put This One Down
I read this about a year ago, but have since recommended it to many other people who all proceeded to add their names to Katrina Kittle's (the author's) mailing list so that they would be updated about her upcoming books. This is pretty much THE BEST BOOK I HAVE EVER READ! It is surprising, shocking, and most of all emotionally moving. You feel for every character. To all those who think the book is too graphic- it is realistic. It does not glamorize the subject but portrays it as the true tragedy it is. Do not let yourself believe these things don't happen. They do. From every item you read about a topic, fictional or non, you learn something. Allow this book to make you one tiny bit more aware that these things are real, that there are signs and indications, and remain vigilant. A great read!