cover image Bth-Poppy

Bth-Poppy

Barbara Larriva. Ballantine Books, $10.95 (155pp) ISBN 978-0-345-34308-6

Allegra Kent, once the toast of Hollywood, is at 71, alonewidowed, ailing and estranged from her only son, Adam. Hospitalized for treatment of a malignancy, she is self-absorbed, petulant and irritable, until one day a copper-haired little girl named Poppy mysteriously appears at her bedside. With guitar and songs about God's love and the power of human forgiveness, and other gentle exhortations, Poppy leads Allegra through the events of her self-indulgent life, out of the despair of the present and into an accepting, forgiving future. Poppy is an instrument of other miracles; she is the spirit of Allegra's granddaughter, who died when she was nine, as is eventually revealed in the reunion of mother and son. Short and direct, the tale dilutes sentimentality with an upbeat tempo. (October)