This is one of my favorite newer authors. Her other book, Still Alice, was equally good. Left Neglected is about a high-powered business woman who has it all: great job, vacation home in Vermont, three children, and an equal partner in her husband. Then she is in a car accident and has a traumatic brain injury. The condition (a real medical condition, by the way) is called "left neglect." She doesn't see or recognize things on the left side: the left side of the page, the left side of her body, etc. She knows intellectually that she has a left hand, but can't find it or use it easily. Fascinating stuff! At the same time, her oldest son is diagnosed with ADHD, her estranged mother comes to live with them to help out, and she feels like she has lost everything. She can't work, can't drive, can't dress herself, and can't take care of her children. The story is about how she figures out how to get by day by day and re-prioritize her life.
I've been picking my way through the Victory O'Shea series by this author. They're funny and easy and quick - brain candy. This was one of my least favorites in the series so far, though. It was ok; I was entertained. I just wasn't wowed by it. In this installment, Tory O'Shea has been asked to write the biography of a famous jazz singer who lived in New Kassel, MO (her home town, where all of these mysteries take place.) The singer's baby was kidnapped in the 1930's and never found. When a man is found dead in a house slated for demolition in town, Tory finds a connection with the jazz singer and her stolen baby. The man is a cousin to the kidnapped child. Another cousin is a prominent politician in Missouri. What do these cousins know about the kidnapped baby? Tory can be counted on to nose her way around and find out!
Next up:
I still really want to read "Shanghai Girls" by Lisa See, as well as "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout. Right now I'm sidetracked by a cute mystery by Rhys Bowen called "Her Royal Spyness."
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