This One and Magic Life by Anne George (1999, Hardcover)

Reading this novel provides a very different view of the Southern author Anne George. Many readers are familiar with her humorous mystery books, but This One and Magic Life is quite different. Her portrayal of an early 20th century family torn apart yet bound together by mental illness rings so true of the age in which those issues were not discussed or named. Especially poignant are the memories of times when the children, not the adults, must deal with the effects of the illness. Perhaps it is not surprising then that the novel seems reminiscent of Southern gothic. Readers of the Miss Julia novels and others need to read this novel to find the real Anne George--a writer of surprising depth.