DREAM COUNTRY
By Luanne Rice
(Bantam Books: $21.95) Previous Columns
Reviewed by: Patricia Ann Jones
Luanne Rice is known for her ability to present realistic stories of the unbreakable bonds that
strengthen families. Rice is the author of "Follow the Stars Home," "Cloud Nine," Secrets of Paris," "Stone Heart," "Angels All Over Town,"
"Home Fires," "Crazy in Love," and "Blue Moon." Rice lives in New York City and Old Lyme, Connecticut.
"Dream Country" captures the beauty and strength that can be found in the differences that both pull families apart and reunite them again. This is the story of
James and Daisy Tucker, and their headstrong daughter, Sage.
Thirteen years ago, after the mysterious disappearance of Sage's twin brother Jake, Daisy with three-year-old Sage, leaves her husband and his Wyoming ranch to return to her
New England home. Daisy vows never to return to the place that has stolen a part of her soul. She has not learned yet, never to say, never.
James, Daisy's embittered ex-husband, refuses to believe that his son is gone forever. He still rides the range dreaming of the wife and children he has lost. James rarely
leaves the ranch in hopes that Jake will miraculously return. Just as he never gives up on Jake, he retains the hope that someday, somehow, his family will be reunited.
The years pass and Sage grows into a beautiful, 16-year-old young woman with a will of her own. She goes against her mother's wishes and becomes intimate with a school
mate, Ben Davis. Afraid to tell her mother that she's pregnant, Sage makes a life changing decision.
Although she has not seen him in years, Sage has never forgotten her father in Wyoming. She longs to go home to the rugged mountain country where her life began. She decides
to leave home. She cannot face her mother's disappointment in her, and feels her only hope is to get back to Wyoming. Ben reluctantly decides to go with Sage. The two young people hitch a ride
on a freight train heading for Chicago. With any luck, they think they'll then be able to catch a ride on to Wyoming, and Sage's father.
This part of the story is a bit far-fetched, but does create a great deal of suspense in the story as these two travel across country.
Eventually, Ben can't continue with the "great escape." He loves Sage, but at 16 is hardly mature enough to commit his life to her or a baby. "He still felt love, and in that
moment Ben learned something terrible: that love wasn't always enough." He leaves Sage to return home.
At this point in the tale, things become mystical. The story shifts between Daisy in Connecticut, to Sage on the road, to James in Wyoming, and to two strangers who make you
doubt reality. Other mysterious elements intertwine into the layers of the plot. These lend an eeriness that leads you on page after page trying to guess what comes next.
Each character is revealed in the fullness of life. No pasteboard cut outs here. These people live and breathe, and bleed the blood of life. You care what happens to them and
to all the players in this sweeping, unforgettable story of a family's search for hope, faith, and love to bridge the years that have held them apart.
Rice has the ability to capture her readers' imaginations with imagery and just the right words. "Dream Country" does exactly what a critic at Kirkus Reviews says:
". . . It captures the mystery and miracle of love in all its guises and demonstrates once again that Rice creates novels that have an uncanny way of conveying the mysterious glue that
holds families together."
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(Jones is a published writer & literary critic)
COPYRIGHT JULY 10, 2001, PATRICIA A. JONES, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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