The Ship's Clock: A Family Chronicle - Hardcover

Rae, Catherine M.

9780312093860: The Ship's Clock: A Family Chronicle

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312093861 ISBN 13: 9780312093860

Publisher: St Martins Pr, 1993

In nineteenth-century New York City, the five Ferguson children battle with their troubled, demanding father, and only after his death do they discover the haunting secret behind his bitter demeanor. By the author of Afterward.

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From Library Journal:

Rae ( Afterward , St. Martin's, 1992) crams plenty of history and intrigue into her brief chronicle of three generations of a New York family. When Philip Mesner steals the family's heirloom clock and flees from Hamburg in 1810, he brings down the curse of his tyrannical father on him and his future sons. Reaching America, he assumes a new identity and cuts himself off from his family, who think he died at sea. As John Ferguson, he initially prospers, but he cannot escape his past and replicates his father's bitterness and despotism with his own children. Told by multiple narrators, the plot revolves around John's secret, which torments him and alienates his children. Only after his death can the burden of the ship's clock be lifted from its owners. Rae's deft handling of a broad array of characters, combined with a well-paced plot and a sustained air of suspense, will please readers of both historical fiction and of mysteries.
- Kathy Piehl, Mankato State Univ., Minn.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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