Crows over a Wheatfield

Paula Sharp

An interesting book. Central character is a woman lawyer. There are several different stories in the book. First of all the description of her childhood, the suffering she, and her brother and stepmother experience at the hands of her father, a succesful lawyer but a very brutal man. Her brother’s development of mental health problems. Atmospheric descriptions of small town/rural America. And then another story of another clever but brutal man, an unusual family, a broken marriage and the battles over a child. And yet a third strand to the tale - but I don’t want to give away the whole plot. A good read.
Jean 11/4/99

A wonderful book, much enjoyed, about an American lawyer hich deals with wife-beating, the iniquities of the American legal system, mental illness...

The beginning, a childhood with a bullying father (a judge), was a little difficult to get through (Doreen found the father too awful to believe in and Jean had difficulty, but Caroline found him credible). The "escape organisation" for getting wives out seemed a bit odd and didn't really fit, Jean thought it had been tacked on and Doreen thought it was there to convey the message that women in this situation weren't alone. There was an impression to be gained that all American men were evil wife-beaters and all women slaves (a parallel between Joe Crow, the slave runners, and the book's title).

You can't always see where the book is going, but the characters are well-drawn and the book is thoroughly recommended.
Caroline 13/6/99

The frames have gone all funny - click to make it good.