Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Sights Unseen

Gibbons, Kaye. Sights Unseen. New York: Avon Books, 1996.
The book explores the consciousness of Hattie Barnes. She remembers her mother who was suffering from mental illness. The excruciating pain of those years when she was a maniac depressive is recounted with extreme love and care. The father, Frederick Barnes and brother Freddy is also there in the picture along with Pearl Wiggins, the strong woman who is the housekeeper. The grandfather, Mr. Barnes and Ms. Woodward, his sister-in-law were “keeping company.” So, he had left his estate to her, which finally passed on to Hattie. It is in this house that Maggie Barnes, the mother finally dies. She misses a step while carrying luggage from the top of the stairs and tumbles down to her death.
The style is light and almost humorous, though the incidents which are described are not quite so.