cover image Two Harbors

Two Harbors

Kate Benson, . . Harcourt, $14 (304pp) ISBN 978-0-15-603124-0

Benson's fluent debut novel follows the bittersweet coming-of-age of Casey Maywood, whose mother, Lila, abandons her with her father in the titular Minnesota town for a chance at stardom in Hollywood. Before she vanishes in pursuit of her dream, gorgeous but unbalanced Lila shapes young Casey in her own image: a beautiful blonde dissimulator and heartbreaker. Casey always hopes Lila will return, although her father doesn't reveal that his troubled wife has sought a divorce and is likely remarried. Years later, working at a movie theater, Casey meets Dex Stone, a handsome older man from L.A. Their relationship (her first real love affair) ignites, but his abrupt death in a plane crash leaves her reeling with previously buried feelings of abandonment. At the urging of Dex's brother, Kevin, Casey flies to Hollywood to attend the funeral—and search for her lost mother. Benson's first-person narrative switches back and forth from Casey's life in Two Harbors to her dizzying reinvention in Hollywood as she cavorts with Kevin and learns the truth of Dex's privileged past. Benson demonstrates capable craft, though she skirts the resolution of the mother-daughter relationship with unsubtle plotting. Agent, Alex Glass . (Oct.)