Janeology - Hardcover

Harrington, Karen

3.55

141 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 160164020X ISBN 13: 9781601640208

Publisher: Kunati Inc., 2008

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Jane, a loving mother of two, has drowned her toddler son and is charged with his murder in this powerful examination of love, loss, and family legacy. When a prosecutor decides Jane's husband Tom is partially to blame for the death and charges him with "failure to protect," Tom's attorney proposes a radical defense. He plans to create reasonable doubt about his client's alleged guilt by showing that Jane's genealogy is the cause of her violence, and that she inherited her latent violence in the same way she might inherit a talent for music or a predisposition to disease. He argues that no one could predict or prevent the tragedy, and that Tom cannot be held responsible. With the help of a woman gifted with the power of retrocognition—the ability to see past events through objects once owned by the deceased—the defense theory of dark biology takes form. An unforgettable journey through the troubled minds and souls of Jane's ancestors, spanning decades and continents, this debut novel deftly illustrates the ways nature and nurture weave the fabric of one woman's life, and renders a portrait of one man left in its tragic wake.

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About the Author:

Karen Harrington is the author of There's a Dog in the Doorway, and the recipient of honors from the Hemingway Short Story Festival, the Texas Film Institute Screenplay Contest, and the Writer's Digest National Script Contest. She lives in Plano, Texas.

Review:

"At her best in conveying Tom's despair . . . the complex and fraught subject of maternal filicide." —Publishers Weekly

"Harrington begins with a fascinating premise and develops it fully. Dave and his wife emerge as compelling, complexly developed individuals. This debut novel is as much a character study as a legal thriller." —Booklist

"Beautifully written, compellingly crafted, Janeology lures the reader into a world that few of us understand, but all of us need to know. This affecting story, with its brilliant array of genial, selfish, troubled, and plucky characters, accomplishes a wonderful feat by revealing specific and universal truths within all families." —Donald T. Phillips, author, Lincoln on Leadership and Unto Us a Child: The True Story of an American Family

"Karen Harrington has created a stimulating novel for readers who enjoy peeling back the layers of the psyche and questioning reality. It's a prompt to pull out those old photographs and wonder where your history really lies, and a push to be more attentive to loved ones. Does the potential for homicide reside within us all?" —Reuters

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