Genealogy: A Novel

Dear Patient Reader: Don't let the poor reviews fool you. Maud Casey's Genealogy is one of the finest books I've read, in a long, long time. Casey has a great deal of wit in her writing; simultaneously, she creates characters the reader will care for. There is laughter, but there is also pain. There is love, but there is also isolation. Her characters are unique, but when reading this novel, the reader can discover how alike they are in so many ways. Casey's language is poetic, feeling like the gentle tide coming in again and again. Please, invest in this book. You will not be disappointed.

In her forties and all alone Samantha Hennart collapses on her kitchen floor from an aneurysm. No one is there for her as her spouse Bernard left her after he caught her having sex with a carpenter; her son Ryan lives on the other coast; and their teen daughter Marguerite is in a mental hospital. How did she and her once loved ones get to this state that an acquaintance has to tell them what has happened. Twenty years ago Sam was a poet, but has not written a line since. She failed as a wife and worse as a mother. Her son is on the road with his rock band not looking back; her daughter desperately needs psychiatric help, but no one is there for her; and her spouse finds solace researching information on a nineteenth century Belgium stigmata mystic cholera survivor, Louise Lateau, who has become the love of his life. How they got there is the rest of the story. This intriguing character study looks closely at how a family got to a pivotal moment in their lives. The story line is fascinating as readers learn what events led to the disintegration of this family of four. Though the husband and children fail to seem fully developed, fans of family drams will enjoy Maud Casey's look at how the shape of things to came into being. Harriet Klausner