Wavemaker II: A Novel

by Mary-Beth Hughes

Overview

National best-seller Wavemaker II is a heart-stopping story of what happens when one man takes a fall for another, leaving his family in disarray. Mary-Beth Hughes's novel is flawlessly executed, full of rich, nuanced characters and sensuous detail. It is the summer of 1964 when Hughes drops us into the splintering world of the Clemens family, poised for collapse when Will Clemens is sent to prison for refusing in court to rat on the notorious McCarthy-era lawyer Roy Cohn. Wavemaker II, which zigzags between a quiet, suburban beach community and the extravagant high-rise frenzy of New York City, is brilliantly told through the points of view of each family member: lovely Kay, who tries to keep a grip on her deteriorating family; heart-wrenching little Bo, who is battling cancer; burgeoning adolescent Lou-Lou, who aches for her mother's lost attention; and beguiling Will, who, with a tired strength, ushers us through spectacular prison scenes. Finally, there is Roy Cohn, who has become the family's shadowy protector in gratitude for Will's loyalty. Charged with an exquisite tension that is riveting clear through to its denouement aboard the titular Wavemaker II, the novel is a masterpiece of page-turning suspense.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802139825
Publisher:	Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date:	04/07/2003
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

Editorial Reviews

Set in the summer of 1964, Hughes's lyrical, poignant debut chronicles the erosion of the tightly knit Clemens family after Will, dutiful husband and father of two, is imprisoned for withholding testimony in an investigation of the activities of controversial attorney Roy Cohn. As the narrative alternates points of view, Kay, Will's despondent wife, spends her time mulling over her husband's predicament, caring for young son Bo who's stricken with cancer in a New York hospital and juggling needy daughter Lou-Lou, who's growing up too fast at the family's home in lazy oceanfront Rumson, N.J. As Will is distanced further from Kay and is sentenced to a year in jail, the grateful Cohn comes to the Clemenses' aid by enlisting his personal friend Dr. Bronson to help with Bo's case. A seasoned medical professional, Bronson tries a new procedure, using Will's stem cells to successfully treat Bo's disease. In succinct, clipped sentences, Hughes relays the intricate, heart-wrenching details of Bo's sickness and gives an account of Will's jailhouse days, which are filled with distrust and danger. Cohn, historically painted as a monster, is portrayed here as compassionate and appreciative of Will's allegiance; once Will is acquitted of his charges, Roy becomes an instant part of the Clemens clan. Hughes's slice of mid-20th-century culture is fascinating, and her fictional recreation of the notorious Cohn, though many will find it implausible, is highly original. Indeed, Cohn's unique characterization adds some much-needed heft to a somewhat undernourished plot. But even when Cohn is not on stage, the story remains moving and vital. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

It's the summer of 1964, and the once-privileged Clemens family is in tatters. Husband Will is serving time at Woeburne penitentiary for refusing to testify against Roy Cohn, who acted as Sen. Joseph McCarthy's counsel. Genteel wife Kay shuttles between their oceanfront home and son Bo's bedside at New York Hospital, where he is being treated for cancer. Stretched thin, Kay can only focus on one tragedy at a time, so the needs and confusion of preadolescent daughter Lou-Lou go unnoticed. Told in shifting points of view, this first novel offers rich, nuanced characterizations ripe for book club discussion. Dozens of memorable scenes showcase Hughes's eye for penetrating detail. In one, Will knowingly invites punishment by blowing the whistle on an underage prison prostitute. In another, Lou-Lou hides out in the family garage and is "rescued" by the handyman, who has questionable interests in little girls. The enigmatic Cohn comes across as strangely likable as he works to protect Will's family as thanks for his loyalty. Highly recommended for all fiction collections. Christine Perkins, Jackson Cty. Lib. Svcs., Medford, OR Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

Ten years after the fall of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, his legal counsel, Roy Cohn, is still unwillingly claiming victims-in this first novel of a family turned inside out by their loyalty to Cohn. Invited to give off-the-record testimony against his longtime friend in Cohn's conspiracy case, New Jersey toymaking executive Will Clemens politely declined. His loyalty won him a subpoena, and by 1964 the misdemeanor to which he confidently pled guilty has led to a one-year sentence in the federal pen at Woeburne, New York. No sooner has the door slammed shut on Will than he finds that Cohn can't deliver on his promises of special treatment: there'll be no segregation from the general prison population, no extra TV or visitation privileges. And when Will declines another invitation, this time to sex with a willing young thing who's been smuggled onto his work detail, he's beaten for his trouble. Meanwhile, the family he left outside is having problems of its own. His numbed wife Kay, unable to resist the matter-of-fact advances of their neighbor, keeps darting back into Cohn's orbit to disconcertingly little effect. His little boy Bo, ravaged by cancer, is living in a world bounded by hospital walls. His teenaged daughter Lou-Lou, largely sidelined to the care of her mother's ravisher and his wife, is the only family member who seems able to think about the Clemenses as a going concern. Unfortunately for both Will and the novel, the malaise of splintered relationships and missed connections is epidemic, as Hughes shows in a series of tableaux bringing Cohn and his circle to melancholy, sympathetic, but ineffectual life as their little cosmos seems to be holding its collective breath waitingfor the worst. A consistently accomplished debut that's still hard to take because the family's anguish seems too little distinguished from the general social funk to provide much narrative energy.

Kirkus Reviews