All Through The Night
(Mary Higgins Clark)
Three weeks before Christmas, eighteen-year-old Sondra Lewis leaves her newborn daughter on the doorstep of the St. Clement Church rectory in an old stroller. At the same moment, Lenny Centino is inside the church stealing a valuable chalice. When Lenny runs from the church, he grabs the stroller containing the infant to provide cover for his flight, not knowing the child is inside. Lenny is clearly unsuited - and unwilling - to be a parent, but his Aunt Lilly, believing the child to be Lenny?s own, undertakes to raise the child, whom she calls Stellina. Seven years later, Sondra has become an accomplished violinist and returns to New York just before Christmas to look for her daughter, but can find no trace of her. Although she is about to play at Carnegie Hall, Sondra feels as if her life is falling apart because she cannot live with the guilt of having abandoned her child. She needs help and finds it when she meets Alvirah Meehan, who sets out to find Sondra?s child and the stolen chalice. Alivirah is already trying to untangle the mystery of how Bessie Maher?s will was altered to disinherit her sister Kate. Kate had intended to give Bessie?s house over to Home Base, the free day-care centre run by Sister Cordelia in St. Clement?s Parish. The centre provides a warm, safe refuge after school for the local children, including Stellina, but the couple living in the fourth-floor apartment have somehow swindled Kate out of the house. While Alvirah is certain that the Bakers are con artists, she cannot figure out how they faked a new will. If Alvirah cannot uncover the swindle, Stellina and the other children will have nowhere to go after school. Stellina?s ersatz father, Lenny, is back from Florida where he has been involved in the drug trade; he is already scheming to use Stellina in his business whenever his seriously-ill Aunt Lilly should die. Stellina is frightened of him and prays that her mother will return. Time is short: Lenny is intent on leaving New York with Stellina as soon as possible, Sister Cordelia will have to close Home Base right after Christmas if the fake will cannot be broken, and Sondra is desperate for news of her daughter. Alvirah untangles the threads of these mysteries with heartwarming common sense and the support of her husband Willy and their friends. It is a perfect story for the Christmas season.
Resumos Relacionados
- Tão Longa Noite (une Si Longue Nuit)
- Of Mice And Men
- Happy Series Of Blessed Events
- Skipping Christmas
- Pela Noite Adentro
|
|