That New York is gone now, hammered into dust by time, progress, accident, and greed. Yes, most of us distrust the memory of how we lived here, not so very long ago. Nostalgia is a treacherous emotion, at once a curse against the present and an admission of permanent resentment. And so most of us have trained ourselves to forget. Strange Heaven by Lynn Coady.
First novels are always personal.
Or else, they always sound personal. This first novel by Canadian author Lynn Coady has a bleak-sounding premise. Bridget, a teenager, gets sent to a hospital's mental ward after giving up her baby for adoption. Bridget has a lot on her mind, and she's not ready to face the world again. But this book is anything but bleak.