Jennifer Lash's work should be allowed to stand on its own merits and not for the fact that she is the mother of a very talented crew of children. I have always abhored the fact that authors today are "made" because of the very fact that they are famous or are a celebrity of dubious standing. There are many authors out there that go wanting for lack of "a name" and the value that is placed beside it as a prerequisite for being a writer.

        In so many instances, the work that a celebrity churns out is fancilful and amateurish in its development and handling. The bottom line that publishers look for is still that "name" and that they think a name alone will turn a clunker into a best seller.

        Jennifer Lash put her heart, mind and soul into all the works that she created. This does not limit itself to her books, but to her paintings, philosophy and upbringing of her cherished children. The story for Blood Ties that she elicited from her mind is one that is filled at times with rage and hatred, but one that also treads the ground softly and then in a burst of glory in its rendering. She has traced the generations of a family and shown how love and desire turn the tables and descend into a realm of distrust, anger, frustration and rage. But nothing is forever, and the story winds its path up from the abyss to the knowledge that love and understanding will always find a way to come to the forefront and receive the recognition they deserve. Without love, there is nothing.

         Jennifer Lash did not suffer fools lightly and she pulled experiences from her own life and wrote of them in lightly shaded disguises in her books. She lived a life that only few can imagine, and she used the medium of writing and art to convey to the reader and viewer, her pain and suffering and her escape from the frustrations that led to so many heartaches as a child and adolescent.

         I read Blood Ties some months ago, and I was so taken with her sensitive presentation and all that her feelings wrought in this superb novel. I was shouting from the rooftops that THIS was a book that was "a good read" and then some. I am still of this concerted opinion today.

         I highly recommend Blood Ties, for as one turns that first page, they will find themselves swept away into a world of vision and happenstance, and walk away at the turn of the last page a better person for having lived the lives of the characters as Ms. Lash envisioned them.

         I am so glad that she is finally receiving the recognition that I have always felt was so long overdue. Read Blood Ties and you will see the hand of a dedicated and sensitive master at work.

Review copyright © Mary F. Sibley, 1999
 

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