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Faith Fairchild, caterer and wife of minister Tom, runs a catering agency in Aleford, Massachusetts. Formerly a New Yorker, born and bred, she moves with her husband to this small town, and adjusts to a quieter life, his ministry and two lovely children. So, it's a bit of a shock when Tom tells her he's been offered a teaching post for one semester at Harvard Divinity School, and that they, the family, will be moving to the historic city of Cambridge, MA., just across the river from Boston. Not exactly excited about this unilateral decision, Faith eventually agrees and becomes interested in the stately Victorian dwelling that will be the family's home for the duration. Her resistance is further diminished by two intriguing events. First, she runs across former boyfriend Richard Morgan, a writer, whilst serving at a homeless shelter and helping Tom with his urban ministry. She is shocked to see Richard in such reduced circumstances when he was working on a blockbuster novel 13 years ago. This is one bad case of writer's block. Secondly, while her kids are playing Narnia in the attic cupboards, her son Ben finds an old book which Faith recognizes as a personal diary. The first entry on January 12, 1946 reads: ³If I can't get away from him, I may have to kill myself.² Quickly, she pockets the diary to prevent Ben reading such disturbing comments. However, she herself is later seduced and begins reading, becoming obsessed not only with the diary but also with identifying its author and solving the mystery of this tortured soul who lived under this very same roof. This novel had a lot of things going for it, initially. But eventually, there were way too many things. The story itself is intriguing, and several plots are entwined to keep our main character busy. However, time after time, the author saw fit to fill the narrative with either a plethora of historical tidbits which led to more historical tangents, or details of every morsel and ingredient that went into whatever food she was preparing. Many readers, myself included, enjoy knowing the history of a wonderful town like Cambridge, but this author starts explaining one aspect of the town/street/building while walking about, and then one word after another leads to describing yet another battle/social scandal/restaurant-that-used to-be-here with mod decor, but now it's furnished with New Age, and so on. This soon grows tiresome and drags the reader out of the story. Food is always nice to know about, and after all, Faith is a caterer. However, descriptions of every dish and every ingredient everywhere the heroine eats is a bit much. Telling her husband as she's leaving the house ³There's a casserole in the oven---broccoli, chickpeas, a little tomato, onion, béchamel sauce with Parmesan, and penne² is a bit more than the husband --- and the average reader--- needs to know. Sitting down to read the mysterious diary and to eat a sandwich, Hall describes what's on every layer in more detail and time than it took to make the sandwich! It's curious how Faith could know so much history about every block of Cambridge when the city seemed to be a fairly new place for her to live. Perhaps not having read Page's other 12 novels put me at a disadvantage, but I doubt it. Information overload and enough food references to make the reader gain weight merely turning the pages took away from the interesting story lines that were somehow pushed and pulled in and out of the background. However, readers who are great fans of Katherine Hall Page (and not on a diet!) will probably enjoy this newest entry in her canon of work. This reader will wait a while before indulging in another of her food-laden and history heavy stories while digesting THE BODY IN THE ATTIC. Several full recipes are included at the end, along with a nice, chatty afterword from the author, suggesting winter reading and treats à la Martha Stewart.
Reviewed by Tess Allegra, September 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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