Let me say write off that Julianna Baggott has a bunch of best-selling books. So a lot of people love her work. It’s only fair to say that.

So, Harriet Wolf wrote a series of six books, all of which were best-sellers. When she died without publishing the seventh and final book of the series, she is posthumously elevated to cult status and her daughter, Eleanor, is endlessly stampeded by Harriet’s fans, asking if the book exists or if it was never written.

Harriet was a throw-away child. She was shunted off to the Maryland School for Feeble Minded Children special schools, which was a real place and only just closed (it was Rosewood Center by then) a few years ago. Harriet and a boy at the “school” had fallen in love, but lose touch when her mother finds out her daughter was not stillborn, as she had been told, but was alive and well, and so she brings her home.

Eppitt – the boy – and Harriet do reunite briefly many years later and they conceive a child, Eleanor, whom she ends up raising alone. Eleanor has two daughters whom she eventually ends up raising alone. Ruthie hates her and Tilton is too frail and simple-minded to have anything in her but love.

Or is she frail? How much of that is real and how much is the result of lies Eleanor has told her to keep housebound so that she, Eleanor, is not alone. When Ruthie brings her dogs over, Tilton – who is allergic to everything – does just fine with them, which makes her suspect that Ruthie has been right all along, that those were all just lies her mother told her. She finds out about other lies Eleanor tells her over and over. Now, doncha think that would lead to a serious identity crisis? Or some kind of crisis. Doesn’t seem to.

I found no redeeming qualities in Eleanor. She is bossy, demanding, always cynical, doesn’t ever seem to be nice, except to Tilton (and that’s a whole other story). And she has told her girls the same bedtime story every night, about the plane crash that eventually lead to Eleanor’s husband leaving her for another woman. Now, what kind of mother does that?

Ruthie had the sense to run away from home at sixteen. Apparently Eleanor didn’t go to great lengths to find her because nothing is mentioned about it. Way to make a kid feel loved, Mom!

At the end of the book, Tilton runs away from home. In a touching moment that comes completely out of nowhere, when they realize she is missing, Eleanor and Ruth also realize and admit that they do love each other deeply – big hug and many tears – and they set off together to find Tilton. They don’t even have to look for her, though. They start out in their car and Tilton just shows up and slides into the back seat. I think you’re supposed to think that Tilton ran away for the sole purpose of reuniting mother and daughter. And maybe she did. But that whole hugging and crying bit happened almost immediately after she is discovered missing, which I found way too contrived. And there is no indication that Tilton has been at all affected by what she finding out her life has been a collection of lies. She’s just sweetly happy that mom and daughter have found each other again.

But that reconciliation happened as soon as they realize Tilton is missing, it didn’t develop. It was as though this novel was a school assignment for Ms. Baggott and she had run out of time so she just leat right to the happily-ever-after, where they’re writing a new end to the bedtime story. Huh?

And there is no resolution. You don’t know if the mother-daughter reconciliation held, you don’t know how Tilton handles realizing her mother lied about almost everything and possibly destroyed her – Tilton’s – life in the process. Eleanor’s husband is in the picture now, but you don’t know if he’s going to stay. I saw no indication of what might happen next.

Ms. Baggott can write, though, and the story fits together nicely. It is told from four different perspectives: those of Harriet, Eleanor, Ruthie, and Tilton, and she does give each character her own voice; which is impressive. I did not like Harriet’s portions entirely in italics, though. Italics are not meant to be used for whole paragraphs, much less pages and pages. It’s gets very uncomfortable to read, it causes a lot of eye fatigue.

I just really didn’t find much interesting about this book. But that’s just me. You may love it. Ms. Baggott does have many best-sellers. A lot of somebodies love her.