In MIRRORS, best-selling author Marianne Martin reintroduces us to two women, dedicated to their careers and passionate about making a difference.
Jean Carson is the teacher students count on when they are overwhelmed by life-changing decisions. But her own choices she must face mirrored in the eyes of a young girl.
Attorney Shayna Bradley is dedicated to helping mothers keep custody of their children. But it is her passion outside the courtroom that stands her squarely before her own mirror.
Both women must decide whether to follow their hearts, or follow their dreams. Neither expects her decision to be so costly. The perimeter of the bedroom, like the rest of Shayna Bradley's house, was an entry straight out of a Showcase of Homes tour. Professionally draped window treatments, socks-only carpet, eucalyptus and silk flower arrangements. Testimony to an organized life and a disciplined mind. The center of the room, however, resembled the aftermath of a tornado touchdown. Shoes and clothes and pillows were strewn about the floor. A moat of pink and purple bedspread surrounded the foot of the bed; while splayed on its surface was a tangle of satin brown arms and legs wrapped in slips of a stark white sheet. Shayna stirred in sleepy-morning consciousness and stretched her arm over the curve of Serena's back. Baby-smooth skin was cooled now of last night's passion. The breath that had whispered its searing messages against Shayna's neck now breathed evenly across her abdomen, and broke gently into a moan. "No, baby," Serena said softly, "don't go gettin' up yet." Shayna smiled to herself, made a conscious effort to reset her internal clock, and asked, "What do you have in mind?" "Mirrors, a novel of coming-out, relationship angst, and job anxiety that works because Martin takes the time to explore just how her characters think and feel about what is going on in their lives. That willingness to take time puts "Mirrors" well above the ordinary lesbian romance. Jean Carson is a straight gym teacher (is that legal?), terrified that only her status as married lady protects her from being exposed as a lesbian. She stays married to a man for the safety that provides, but, as the novel opens, is having more and more trouble faking it. Her best friend, a dyke lawyer named Shayna, is a workaholic, up to her elbows in relationship troubles because her job is always more important than whatever woman currently occupies her bed. Shayna is a woman who can answer the phone during sex, a fact that is less than endearing to her partners. Martin examines the inner lives of her characters with care and sympathy, and we get to understand their motivations in ways that are both touching and extremely interesting. Living in gay Mecca, it's easy to forget just how rough things are in flyover land. Martin makes the dangers real, and when her characters develop the courage to stand up to those perils, we cheer for them, because we really understand just what it took for them to take the risk. "Mirrors" is a very fine novel, well worth your time and treasure." --Deborah Peifer, The Bay Area Reporter 9/13/01 "It's exciting when a writer picks up minor characters from a previous work and gives them a novel of their own. These two women were worthy of the effort. This novel delivers everything I've learned Martin delivers: strong characterizations, insightful internal monologues and plots based on the grey areas of life. Martin excels at issues that ought to be black-and-white and shows how complicated they can turn out to be. What really struck me about this book, though, was how Martin seems to be stretching her wings a bit. The book is longer, and more time is given to the entire backdrop of these women's lives, not just where their lives intersect. The characterizations are strong as usual, but they're also rich with small details. I've really noticed that Bella Books is delivering longer, more complicated works from established writers. I already thought Martin was a fine writer. If Mirrors is anything to go by, she will soon be a truly great one now that she is with a publisher that seems to let writers fly to new heights." --Litterati1
"While reading MIRRORS, I found myself wondering, "Do I know these women? They could be my neighbors, my former teachers, the women at the next table in my favorite restaurant." The depth at which I got to know the characters made them as real as my own friends that I wish I could advise and console. And as with real friends, they followed their own sometimes surprising paths and drummed up courage I didn't know they had. When I got this book as a gift, I wasn't thinking much past the generosity of the friend who gave it to me. After reading the book, though, I realized the author also gave me a gift. That gift was the effort and painstaking attention to detail that Marianne Martin made in sharing these women with me. She put them in familiar territory and let me know that, often, my struggle with guilt, passion and courage is every woman's struggle. She reminded me that a rare, genuine friendship can survive the most uncertain and painful of situations, and that a soul mate will truly love you no matter how difficult you try to make it. We could all probably stand to be reminded of these things on occasion, and reading MIRRORS is by all accounts a great way to be reminded." --Candace
"I think this is the book you always meant to write. The one that you know was always inside you. No warrior women, no mythical foes, only the true courage it takes to live a full and examined life. This is a book I'd recommend to a kid who's confused, a parent in doubt. As you obviously do, I also care about teenagers. I understand now what I didn't know [when I was a 22 year-old student teacher] that it's about dreams, feelings and forgiveness. Your story beautifully illustrates that point...Life has nothing to do with winning or losing. It has everything to do with surviving. Done well, it achieves graciousness. "Mirrors" reminds me that I want to give something back. I want to thank you as a reader for not talking down to us. I want to thank you as a woman for saying that we can care about kids even if we don't choose to bear them. I want to thank you as a lesbian for telling the more complete story about our loving. We can love our lovers as our partners and our parents and siblings and friends and jobs and the everyday commiments that make for ordinary extraordinary lives. You keep us human. Thank you." --Jeanne "I really enjoyed the depth to MIRRORS. The characters were very three dimensional and the descriptions of the conflicts and compromises they had to deal with as a lawyer and a teacher were compelling. One of the things I really admired about this book was the fact that Marianne K. Martin avoided those 'sitcom' moments of resolution - the book addressed hard issues in a realistic manner. I was very satisfied at the end of the novel, although I would not mind hearing about these characters in the future." --A Reader from Woodinville, WA
EXCERPT from Chapter One:
REVIEWS:
WHAT THE READERS SAY:
[NEVER ENDING]
[DAWN OF THE DANCE]
[LOVE IN THE BALANCE]
[LEGACY OF LOVE]
[MIRRORS]
[INTERVIEWS]
[BIOGRAPHY OF MARIANNE MARTIN]
[UPCOMING READINGS AND APPEARANCES]
[MARIANNE'S FAVORITE LINKS]
