on Rachel Howzell Hall Scribner.

on Rachel Howzell Hall Scribner, September 2002 $1300 ISBN 0-743-22616-X

Rachell Howzell Hall's first attempt novel, A Quiet Storm, is the compelling story of a young woman whose life is torn apart at her sister's mental illness and her parents' refusal to acknowledge or understand it.

As a little girl, Anastasia "Stacy" Moore hears strange stories about her grandmother, a woman who "wandered the neighborhood late at night" and "never spoke to anyone:' As Stacy expands up, it becomes clear that her beautiful older sister Rikki, who goe from being the brilliant learner with a prep school scholarship to the melancholy woman-child with "storms" in her head, is suffering from the same disorder that lay their grandmother in a sanitarium.

Their mother insists that Rikki is fine, and across the years, Stacy is forced to take responsibility for her older sister. After Rikki graduates from association she settles happily into married life with Matthew Dresden a handsome and prosperous pediatrician. But Rikki is still dangerously unstable, and Stacy, now an accountant, is forced to deal with her sister's point in disputes destroying Stacy's own marriage in the process

Although Rikki's condition appears like a combination of several disorders, Hall currents a riveting tale of to what extent mental illness can destroy the lives of its victims and their lov uniteds Her conversational style is a bit distracting at first, on the other hand eventually becomes easier to come next She artfully shows the complexity of Stacy and Rikki's relationship, and granting the other characters are les satisfying, Hall's first attempt novel is both enlightening and entertaining.

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