Sons and Daughters

Spanning the days from World War II to Vietnam, Longstreet's (Our Father's House) latest features the well-heeled Fiore family of California. Gregory Fiore, a widower at 50, is a patriarch to his extended family, father to two strong-willed children and senior heir to the banks that make up the international Pacific-Harvester system. The fact that few young Fiores are stepping forward for service in the bank deeply worries Gregory and although part of this story is Gregory's ownhis remarriage to his long-time secretary and their adoption of a young boythe focus is on the younger generations. His willful and bewitching daughter Maude has risen to the heights of international broadcast journalism; her younger brother George has chosen disinheritance over the family business. Gregory's cousin Buckley, a major in World War II, comes through for the bank, but expends most of his energies exploring the claim of a poor opera student, Anita la Fiore, who swears she is his illegitimate half-sister. The adventures of the young Fiores read like lifestyles of the rich and famous rather than the gritty family saga Longstreet once did so well. The bank's financial plight, the wartime atmosphere and the intrigues of the international community all proffer substance and excitement, but pedestrian writing and shallow characterizations rob this novel of the drama that would keep readers concerned with the fate of the Fiores. (November)