Terry Brett is an ambitious man on the verge of success when his destiny arrives in the form of Allison Desmond. In Allison he finds the love of his life. Allison is a young woman flirting with self-destruction--until she meets Terry. Together they are the fulfillment of each other's dreams. Valerie Holland, a pediatrician, fulfills her dreams when she falls deeply in love with a man with a secret--and he falls in love with her. From the golden coast of California to the magical canals of Venice, the painful and tangled relationships of a man and the two women he loves play out over the passing years when Terry makes a promise to..."Honor Thy Wife
A fascinating, haunting story that pulled me in on the first page and didn't let me go until the last line. On one level it is a love story spanning three decades. On another level it is a study of the nature of love - of passionate love that brings dissimilar people together, of a father's tough love that banishes his son's lover for his own good, creating misunderstanding and misery, of compassionate love and of a ruinous father/daughter relationship. Bogner writes in an engaging, optimistic style that makes the book hard to put down.-- Gisela H.
Original writing, compelling plot, strong characters.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
I almost passed over this novel because of the religious overtones of the title. But the book turns out to be something more subtle, its implicit morality hidden under a very hard shell. This is an original blend of hard-boiled, tough writing structured within a compelling romantic plot: daisy white F. Scott Fitzgerald swirled into a fudgy vat of James M. Cain. In Bogner's rough-talking, high-spending world, strong characters clash in strong language. Yet at bottom, one senses that a good heart drives the story. After one gets into it, after meeting the strong flawed men and the stronger heroic women, so expertly depicted, it is hard to put the book down. The plot is complex and magnetic. Loving two women, Terry Brett finds himself in a conflict many men surely have experienced, if only emotionally. The language is inventive, the sentences packed with meaty metaphor, lexicon full of surprising new tastes. This novel is a gourmet meal which both men and women will enjoy. It has been prepared with consummate skill by a master chef of fiction whose name should be better known.
Another intriguing plot from Master wordsmith Bogner
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
A delicious read. Bogner once again proves he can turn out a rich full-bodied and literate tale that is quirky yet familiar. We know these characters. How can this happen??? A unique twist on love and family life.
another non stop read
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
as always the richness of normans characters amaze me. I may not like them or love them, but because of normans skills I always understand them and their actions. Norman Bogner writes about life as it is! Not as we wish it to be. A great read! What is next? and when?
A touching love story, beautifully written
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
I could not put this book down. Bogner's characters are passionate and complex and real. Their dilemmas and how they handle them ring true. Only Bogner has the ability to make a man who knowingly marries two women at the same time a character the reader admires and roots for. No one writes a better, more satisfying love story than Bogner.
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