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The Kindness of Strangers (Hardcover)

by Katrina Kittle (Author) "Danny wondered if people looked at his family and knew ..." (more)

5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada / Fiction (Jan 19 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060564741
ISBN-13: 978-0060564742
Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.5 x 3.8 cm
Shipping Weight: 522 g

Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

Amazon.ca Sales Rank: #532,231 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Master caterer Sarah Laden is barely holding her life together as a widow with two difficult sons—recalcitrant teen Nate and troubled fifth-grader Danny—when the unthinkable happens. Her best friend and neighbor, Courtney Kendrick, is arrested in a child sex abuse scandal. Courtney's husband has vanished; their 11-year-old son, Jordan, is in the hospital recovering from a suicide attempt; and across the street Nate is finding, in Jordan's backpack, evidence of unthinkable abuse. Kittle (Traveling Light; Two Truths and a Lie) crafts a disturbing but compelling story line, as Sarah, Nate and Jordan uncover and come to terms with the horror in alternating chapters. Sarah, for instance, is shocked to learn that she dropped off food for the Kendricks' sex parties; Jordan must decide whether or not he wants to continue a relationship with his mother—who insists she's innocent—if and when she gets acquitted. Kittle's research sits awkwardly in expository dialogue—"One in four girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before their eighteenth birthdays," intones the detective who will later become Sarah's love interest—but it doesn't slow the momentum. Though the movement is toward healing, there are bumpy roads ahead for everybody in this melodramatic but gripping read. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Sarah Laden is a widow with two sons, Nate and Danny, and a thriving catering business. Her best friend, Courtney, helped her through the horrible days after her husband's death and is always there when she's needed. Her son, Jordan, is even Danny's best friend. Then one day all that changes. In a nightmare chain of events, Sarah discovers that she really didn't know Courtney at all and poor, odd Jordan has been living a hell no one could imagine. As Courtney waits in jail, Sarah decides at the request of her older son, Nate, to take on the foster care of Jordan, with all its painful ramifications. Child sexual abuse is hard to read about and Kittle sometimes gets a little heavy-handed with her facts and statistics. But told through the perspectives of Sarah, Nate, Danny, and Jordan, this is ultimately an attractive story of ordinary people trying to make the best of an awful situation and finding the healing power of love and forgiveness in the process. Elizabeth Dickie
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
Danny wondered if people looked at his family and knew. Read the first page

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

3 Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting, Aug 25 2006

By	Reader Dampsy "DD" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Kindness Of Strangers (Paperback)

I just finished this book and as heart wrenching as the story was, I was fascinated and could barely put it down. Katrina writing is superb, the characters so real, with emotions we all can relate to. The ending left me wanting more to follow up and see what direction Jordan took and how Danny made out in life. To me,feeling so much for the characters was the sign of an excellent writer, one in tune with real life.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Read, Oct 29 2008

By	Patricia (Kimberley, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Kindness Of Strangers (Paperback)

This was my first book written by Katrina Kittle. From the first chapter I was drawn in. The writing flows, the characters most human and the subject matter, though difficult, handled intelligently and compassionately. I was sorry when the book ended.

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0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laden With Love, Nov 5 2007

By	BeatleBangs1964 (United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Kindness Of Strangers (Paperback)

Sarah, a widow and mother of Nate, 17 and Danny, 11 runs a thriving catering business. She is also a master chef and maker of wedding cakes and is held in high esteem in her suburban Oakhaven Ohio community.

Her neighbor, Courtney, an obstetrician has extended friendship to Sarah during her bereavement. Courtney's son Jordan, also 11 is friends with Danny and is Danny's classmate. Courtney tells Sarah that she thinks Jordan has Asperger's Syndrome, the spectrum partner to autism as he is sorely lacking in social skills.

But does he have Asperger's? Or is Jordan's behavior reflective of external circumstances rather than internal ones? A rainy day encounter with Jordan washes away all illusions that Sarah once had about Courtney. Shivering and disoriented, Jordan stands outside his house, although school has already started. Sarah offers to drive him until she realizes he is in no condition to attend. After a traumatic suicide attempt on Jordan's part, Sarah rushes him to the local hospital where medical personnel discover that the boy has been sexually abused. Ironically, it is the same hospital where Courtney works and where Sarah's husband died some two years earlier.

Layers of boils get lanced as more ugly secrets erupt, dancing out like a parade of skeletons in a closet. Not only has Jordan been abused, but so have other children. Courtney's mask of respectability has been torn off, revealing a cracked, twisted gargoyle in its place. Instead of being loving neighbors and parents, Courtney and Mark have been running a child pornography ring. Jordan, severely traumatized has developed some incredible coping skills.

As more layers of deceit get peeled away, Sarah re-evaluates herself; her neighbors and her judgment. Nate steps up to the plate for Jordan by encouraging Sarah to take him in as a foster child. Once the bandages and red tape are cut away, the family can heal and bond. The Ladens are clearly Laden with love and step up to the plate for Jordan. I especially loved Nate. One part that made me smile was how Nate and Jordan really got into venting their anger at Jordan's parents, who were truly monstrous.

This is an excellent book, a genuine page turner. The garden theme/persistent images is very effective. I highly recommend this book, especially for its realistic and sensitive treatment of a very painful topic. Katrina Kittle is certainly an author to watch out for. This book is outstanding.

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