Library Journal, December 8, 2008
Without a Backward Glance has been selected as one of Library Journal's Best Books of 2008
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Author Online
Video interview with Kate in Seattle, August 2008
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Authors on Tour Live
Kate's Reading at Tattered Cover Book Store, August 18
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Chicago Sun-Times, August 17, 2008
by Allecia Vermillion
Days after finishing this book, the McDonald family's story will linger in your mind. Don't miss this impressive Australian import.
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The Seattle Times, August 8, 2008
by Melinda Bargreen
Veitch's ear for dialogue, and her ability to illuminate inner thought processes, both seem like the attributes of a seasoned novelist — but this is her first book...
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The Oregonian, August 1, 2008
by Jessica Bruder
Characters gradually unfold through their words and actions, ushered along by crisp storytelling. The narration flits through their varied perspectives, so each actor has a stake in shaping the story, which becomes a collage of their viewpoints.
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Dayton City Paper, August 2008
by Victoria Thornton
Kate Veitch's Without a Backwards Glance strives to depict the wrestling of a young spouse torn between the urges to trade a claustrophobic marriage and parental role for unfettered freedom. Glance offers a lovely, albeit lengthy, dialogue about traditional expectations and hypocritical road of good intentions while underscoring the weighty costs of creating your own bliss. With as much artistry and athleticism as a swimmer, Veitch arches, flips, and propels her characters into their intended direction without breaking stride. Nuanced with vacillating Australian and British idioms, Glance gazes deeply at the connections between parents to children and families to communities.
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New York Post, July 13, 2008
Required Reading by Billy Heller
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Metropolitan Spirit, July 9-15, 2008
With an amazing talent for crafting a delicate balance of depth, complexity, and intricate forms of universal themes, the debut novel by Kate Veitch, “Without a Backward Glance," is a truly profound creation of inspired craftsmanship.
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Romantic Times Book Reviews Magazine, July Issue
Four Stars
This novel hits the target. Veitch is incredibly skilled at narrating the family dynamic, and every small detail counts. The characters are true to themselves each second, and the plot is delicious, heart-warming and genuine. This is a fabulous and promising debut.
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Booklist, April 15, 2008
Similar to Anne Tyler in her wry affection for her characters and to Anita Shreve in her aptitude for crafting compulsively readable plotlines, first-novelist Kate Veitch delivers a remarkably assured debut that is sure to find a ready audience. The McDonald children have never really recovered from their mother’s abandonment—she walked out on Christmas Eve in 1967. The Australian siblings continue to carry into adulthood the emotional scars of betrayal, which are only exacerbated now that their father is exhibiting the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. The eldest, Deborah, has become a cold perfectionist, while the youngest, Meredith, drinks away her sorrows. Steady Robert, a happily married family man, suffers from a severe case of OCD, while James, a wealthy painter, fails to ever fully engage in his life and his relationship with his supportive wife. When James unexpectedly finds their mother, now a successful clothing designer living in England, the siblings must work through their issues in preparation for a family reunion. With its brisk pacing and compassionate take on human failing, this absorbing novel is sure
to win many fans.
— Joanne Wilkinson
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Publishers Weekly, January 7, 2008
On Christmas Eve 1967, Rosemarie McDonald walks out the door of her suburban Melbourne home, leaving her husband behind to raise their four children: Deborah, the eldest at almost 13 and default mother; Robert, the compulsive worrier; James the peacemaker even at eight; and Meredith, the perpetual baby. Decades later, the children have forged their own families, but remain trapped in their original roles and are still somehow waiting for word from Rosemarie. When James rediscovers her on a trip to London, they are all faced with confronting their betrayer, and themselves, and possible forgiveness. Published under the title Listen in Veitch's native Australia, the novel's omniscient narration eavesdrops on the inner lives of each family member and their different ways of coping with abandonment—not all of them healthy. What emerges is a heartfelt yet unsentimental portrait of a family undone by a mother's desire, and its struggle to find ways to keep going and keep together.
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Library Journal, April 1, 2008
Veitch's debut novel is a compelling tale of a family fractured by abandonment. On Christmas eve 1967, Rosemarie McDonald, a young wife and mother, walks out of her family's home near Melbourne, Australia, and never returns. Over the next 40 years, her four children maintain close relationships with one another, establishing their own families and now helping to care for their aging father, whose grasp on reality is slipping. We meet the oldest, Deborah, authoritative and controlling; charming, artistic, and charismatic James; obsessive-compulsive Robert, always responsible; and the youngest, Meredith, flighty and fearful, all plagued by their mother's abandonment. Then James, in London on business, crosses paths with Rosemarie. The balance of the novel focuses on just how and when he will reintroduce his mother to his siblings. Veitch has written a powerful and engrossing story of family interactions complete with family members' frailties and strengths. Chockablock with rich, idiomatic Australian slang, this novel includes a glossary. Recommended for all fiction collections where Anita Shreve and Anne Tyler are popular.
— Andrea Tarr
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Absentee Mother
Excerpt from Romantic Times Mother's Day article, May 2008
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Here are some of the reviews of the Australian edition of the same novel, published there under the title Listen.
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Reviews
Sue Bond
Courier Mail, September 9, 2006
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Reverting to type
Marina Cornish
Australian Book Review, November 2006
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Mother and child reunion
Frances Atkinson
The Age, August 26, 2006
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Rosemarie's babies
Katherine England
Adelaide Advertiser, September 9, 2006
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Review by Michael McGirr
Sydney Morning Herald, December 16, 2006
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Some wounds never heal
Lucy Clark
Sunday Telegraph, August 27, 2006
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Vogue Australia, September, 2006
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Bookseller + Publisher, September 2006
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Herald Sun, October 14 2006
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Daily Telegraph, October 21 2006
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Interviews
Loving a lost mind
Loretta Hall
Herald Sun, November 4, 2006
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New beginnings
Carol George
Australian Women's Weekly, September 2006
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When lies can bind
Christopher Bantick
Adelaide Advertiser, September 16, 2006
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Foreword - Good Times, Bad Times
Anne Lim
Weekend Australian, September 16, 2006
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A reality through fiction
Robyn Doreian
Sun Herald, September 3, 2006
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When words never fail
Karen Hardy
Canberra Times, September 2, 2006
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Family matters
Deborah Crabtree
Bookseller + Publisher, September 2006
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Life Matters
ABC National Radio
Radio Interview with Richard Aedy
August 28, 2006
Scribbling siblings maintain family tradition
Frances Atkinson
The Age, July 29, 2006
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Articles
Better a beaut bloke than a great guy
Kate Veitch
Weekend Australian, January 12-13, 2008
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A goss fest? Please! I'm a serious writer
A Diary by Kate Veitch
Sunday Age, September 3, 2006
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