by Catherine Cookson, Rated AWhen I spotted this book on my library's list of new books this month I thought that "gosh, this author must be at least 100 years old!" And I was right. Or at least I would have been right had she not died in 1998 at age 92. Her first book was published when I was 15 so let me just say that this author and I go back a long way.
Hamilton is the story of Maisie, a lonely little girl who was born with one arm considerably shorter than the other. Her Father left the family shortly after she was born and her Mother blamed Maisie and alternated between neglecting her or treating her with cruelty. Maisie invented an imaginary companion to whom she could pour her heart out. He first appeared to her when she was about seven years old while on a visit her doctor said to her "Let us use our horse sense" and at that moment Maisie saw a great horse galloping past him and all the time looking at her, its eyes full of knowledge and its lips drawn back as if in laughter. Soon after, Maisie adopted the name Hamilton for her new and secret companion. Of course, she couldn't talk about Hamilton to anyone -- but she could write about him. And write she did, with results that would eventually broaden her horizons far beyond the confines of the small town where she had spent her lonely girlhood. Hamilton would continue to play a supportive part in Maisie's life for years, as she deals with the adult problems of work, love,and marriage and builds a life for herself.
Goodbye Hamilton picks up where Hamilton leaves off. By the time Maisie reaches her early thirties, she's escaped a disastrous marriage and become a bestselling author with her very first book: all about Hamilton. This book begins when she's about to be married again, this time to a man loves and appreciates her for the person she is. And Hamilton, in turn, marks the occasion by taking a wife himself, an elegant (and equally imaginary) mare named Begonia.
But her life continues to have it's ups and downs but Maisie is a survivor and somehow finds the strength to overcome each tragedy and this book ends with Maisie once again reinventing herself and moving on.
