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Irene Marcuse got my attention with her first book The Death of an Amiable Child in large part because she offered something I love; a new and different protagonist. Her protagonist is a person after my own heart; she's a do-gooder. She's a social worker type, working with the marginal people in New York, old folks who need help. During my working life, I did that kind of work myself; I worked for years in non-profit social service. So I get Anita Servi. Anita and her husband Benno live in Manhattan with their daughter. Clea, seven, is adopted and she's of African-American descent; Anita wants her to know her heritage, so her baby-sitter, Ellen, local grad student, is also of African heritage. Anita is still in love with her husband Benno, a carpenter, so as the book opens, the husband and wife are necking on the stoop, while Ellen's upstairs braiding beads into Clea's cornrows. That night, Benno walks Ellen home as he always does. The next Monday, Ellen doesn't show up. When Anita goes to find her, Ellen is dead. And the police suspect Benno, who was apparently the last person to see the young woman alive. This would be a pretty straight-forward story, but interwoven in the narrative are some wonderful scenes of Anita with her daughter, searching for fabric at local markets for Clea's dance recital (she studies at the Alvin Ailey School) and other scenes of the wonderful mix that is New York City. The other challenge is that the basis for some of the police suspicions is the belief that Benno was having an affair with Ellen. Anita, who is so sure of her husband starts to doubt, starts to wonder about Benno; he's not coming home (of course he often works late) and he seems to be avoiding his family. It's not written as high drama, but it's written smart. Anita's fears are believable - you can see a woman like her having doubts, and then having second thoughts about those doubts. I don't like books about children very much, I admit. Clea sometimes act far too much like a kid and of course there' nothing wrong with that, she is only seven and I suspect any parent reading this book will identify immediately. But the Servi family is real, and they have real problems, some real secrets and nothing is one hundred percent certain. Marcuse has presented us with a solid story and interesting protagonist. You can't ask for much more than that. I look forward to seeing where else she takes us.
Reviewed by Andi Shechter, April 2001
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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