Book Review: The Blind Side of the Heart

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Blind Side of the Heart     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Michael C. White
Class/Genre:   Fiction
HarperCollins, Sep 1999, $24.00, 355 pp.

Maggie Quinn left Ireland for America looking for work and perhaps a future. Instead she finds tragedy, loses her belief in the goodness of God, and ultimately finds solace in a bottle. When she is unable to go on anymore, Maggie tries to kill herself. In the hospital she physically begins to recover, but she remains resolute that she has no reason to continue living. That changes when Maggie meets Father Jack Devlin, who provides her with commiseration and forgiveness that she accepts. Mostly he gives her a future. Maggie becomes Jack’s housekeeper.

Eighteen years later, two adult siblings accuse Jack of molesting them when they were altar boys. Police begin to make inquiries, the media raid Hebron Falls, Massachusetts, painting the relationship between Jack and Maggie as something evil. As the evidence mounts and the townsfolk ostracize the pair, Maggie takes a closer look at her savior and returns to the bottle, making her future seem as shaky as it appeared two decades ago.

At first look, the story line of THE BLIND SIDE OF THE HEART appears to come from headlines about illicit behavior of priest. However, this novel actually centers on Maggie (who is the narrator). She struggles between her heart wanting to remain loyal to her rescuer and her mind’s reexamination of her memories that paint her hero in a less than noble light. Maggie is the novel and the prime reason readers will look forward to more works from Michael C. White.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner