Halt at X A North of Boston Novel Ms Sally Ann Sims 9780990957119 Books
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How long will you stand up for what you believe when your world unravels? Lucinda Tyne Beck, VP and uber college fundraiser, uncovers illegal use of donations by her boss, Frank Wickes, the flashy new President of her alma mater on the rocky North Shore of Massachusetts. As her 17-year marriage to artsy photographer Bart Beck unravels at a betrayal Lucinda can’t deny—much as she’d like to—Lucinda scrambles to save the college’s reputation and her marriage. The day her husband moves out, Lucinda’s best friend arrives at her farmhouse, horse trailer in tow, with an ex-racehorse on the verge of starvation. As Bart self-destructs and Lucinda’s life is threatened as she scrambles to bring Frank to justice, she turns to a surprising ally and an intrepid dwarf miniature horse for help. Before her pursuer strikes, can Lucinda save her college, her thoroughbred mare, and find a new way to love? “A rich engaging novel…with its focus on characters’ search for meaning, purpose, and redemption, while hindered inevitably by their own faults.” -Mark Spencer, winner of the Omaha Prize for the Novel and author of Trespassers
Halt at X A North of Boston Novel Ms Sally Ann Sims 9780990957119 Books
Finally a novel with a female protagonist to admire. The likable heroine of the novel, Lucinda, carries herself with dignity, strength and ethical professionalism. She is someone I would like to know. The flow of the story is wonderful and the writing has an almost rhythmic quality to it. The author has done a great job of detailing Lucinda's work life and clearly has a grasp on the complexities of academic fund raising. The story weaves together Lucinda's professional and personal life with the overlapping story of Lucinda's rescue and rehabilitation of an off-the-track mare. The parallels work well as we witness the personal struggles that Lucinda faces in her workplace and in her marriage contrasted with the blossoming of her rescued race horse. In both there is redemption, and a woman and a horse that I wanted to root for. Great novel, great read. I highly recommend the book.Product details
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Halt at X A North of Boston Novel Ms Sally Ann Sims 9780990957119 Books Reviews
Halt at X is an impressive first novel. In addition to being immediately drawn in to the story of Lucinda Beck, a confident, competent college administrator embroiled in work-place conflict and personal crisis, I was amused by the subtle humor and completely transported into Lucinda's world by the author's descriptive style. Lucinda travels from her office in the coastal "Ivory Tower", to lavish parties courting donors at mansions, to the Puffy Muffin snack bar on campus, always making time to visit the stable to care for and ride her rescue horse. Sally Sims employs her science background and artistic talents to great effect as she brings to life the people and pets who play important roles in this suspenseful story.
I picked up Sally Ann Sim's debut novel "Halt at X" on the advice of a friend. I was intrigued by the location of the story, the internal organizational politics of its academic setting, its ruminations on difficult marriages and break ups, and a taste of the world of show horses and stables (something new to me). The prose is clear and expressive, the characters are interesting and believable, and the descriptions of the settings and cultural mores are often fascinating. It is a big novel with a slowly developing plot, but the characters and the writing kept me wanting to keep reading. I look forward to Sally Ann Sim's second novel. That is a book that I will also want to read.
I'm giving this four and a half stars as a women's fiction novel with elements of suspense and horses, with the proviso that it won't suit every reader equally. The plot is well worked out and fleshed out with adult characters and motivations; there are two distinctly individual horses, a rescued bald eagle and some pets.
Lucinda made a mistake with a roguish horseman, and the affair was over long before her husband got to hear of it. Obviously, this indicated that her marriage wasn't perfect in the first place, but she's been trying to paper over the cracks. Now her husband blames her for his alcohol problems and leaves. Berating herself all over again, Lucinda throws herself into her work. She's a fundraiser for a prestigious business and biotech college.
I have to say that this aspect is beyond weird for me. In Ireland and Britain, the concept of a person or company funding a university facility or professorship would equate with corruption. One wealthy family receives the brief comment that they are trying to gain a place for a son; an apparently serious discussion on ethics has the fundraising team debating whether a commercial company should be allowed to fund a department, place their own professor and dictate policy. Answer whatever is best for the college. This is deliberately posed as a provocative question; and a document on agreed ethics prevents fundraisers from gaining kickbacks or being paid according to the sum they raise. But there is a slush fund of a million or so set aside solely to entertain and woo donors, who may contribute thirty-five million dollars. Anyone else see any problems arising? Given that this system is accepted at institutional education level, the morass of lobbying American politicians cannot be a surprise.
Another issue which baffled me is that a staff member complains that someone has been accessing and altering data on the fundraising program using her login. Nobody says "Call IT." Nobody tells her to change her login immediately. There is no computer security policy or staff in place. If there was, an IT staff member would change the login and block the original one, trace who had used it, when, and how they accessed the computer. They have to do this right away, in case of a hacker. Colleges have hackers inside and out, read 'The Accidental Billionaires' about the founding of Facebook. And the hapless staff member should demand to be separated from any taint with all this funding at stake. So this in no way rings true.
We never see a single student or hear about their lives or studies. All we see are department heads, admin staff, management, who don't talk about students but themselves. In a college the students seem to be completely forgotten and absent from the scene.
I definitely enjoyed the horse details, which as the title 'Halt At X' would indicate, tend to dressage. Lucinda accepts the challenge of rescuing a mare just off the racetrack, which has been fed steroids - again, in Ireland and Britain, enough to get a trainer potentially banned for life. This happens in general training? However this good deed, while filling the void left by Lucinda's husband's departure, puts her back in the proximity of the Don Juan horseman who is nonchalant about making enemies on the circuit. Seems Lucinda's got an enemy too, as someone unknown scares and occasionally stalks her. The tension mounts both at work and at home, and her husband hasn't gone far either. I did find myself reading to see what happened, hoping the horses would be okay and that a good resolution would be found in several areas.
Anyone who works in the thorny area of raising funds may be interested in this tale, or those who want a subtly romantic tale of a strong woman facing challenges in business and trials of the heart.
Loved the book. Felt like I was in Plumcliff. Loved the characters. Prose crisp and so descriptive. Felt like I wanted to adopt the pets.
I found this book hard to put down. The characters were both sympathetic and fascinating. I liked the little poetic touches throughout. I really felt I had entered interesting worlds of experience that are not a typical part of my life and felt the richer for it.
I bought this novel because my sister-in-law wrote it.
I write non-fiction books (on North Carolina women's history and ski resort architecture nationally) but was pleasantly surprised to discover just how good this mystery novel was.
Once you get into the book, it is a page-turner. I have given this book to many friends for Christmas. You don't have to care about college fundraising, horse dressage, or even the suburbs north of Boston to become engrossed in what is going to happen to the protagonists.,
Kudos to Sally Sims for a great first novel. I am looking forward to more to come!
Halt at X is a page turner. An admirable heroine, horses, pets, warmth, nature, ocean, open pastures, orchards and change of seasons -- paired with the ruthless world of fundraising, corruption, crime and even attempted murder. Oh - some love interests and entanglements, gossip and drinking problems to boot. I found myself captivated and intrigued. Having grown up in Europe the fundraising world is alien to me. I feel like I even learned a bit by reading this novel. Great summer read - hoping for more to come from Sally Ann Sims.
Finally a novel with a female protagonist to admire. The likable heroine of the novel, Lucinda, carries herself with dignity, strength and ethical professionalism. She is someone I would like to know. The flow of the story is wonderful and the writing has an almost rhythmic quality to it. The author has done a great job of detailing Lucinda's work life and clearly has a grasp on the complexities of academic fund raising. The story weaves together Lucinda's professional and personal life with the overlapping story of Lucinda's rescue and rehabilitation of an off-the-track mare. The parallels work well as we witness the personal struggles that Lucinda faces in her workplace and in her marriage contrasted with the blossoming of her rescued race horse. In both there is redemption, and a woman and a horse that I wanted to root for. Great novel, great read. I highly recommend the book.
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