book details

Book: The Collage by Rene Natan

categories: Book, Crime, Betrayal, Love, Farming, Reporting, Revenge, Sacrifice, Investigation, Digital Doctoring, Painting, Romance

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Rene Natan

about this book: Allison Summer is young, beautiful and sweet. She's barely twenty when she marries, out of love, Inn. But Inn is not who he seems to be. He has portrayed himself as an ardent and attentive lover—only to create a cover for himself and find refuge from both the law and the mob. Allison, who as a little girl was full of self-confidence and get-up-and-go, is taken aback when Inn shows her a tape which accuses her of wrong doing. She believes him, and Inn takes advantage of this fact, in a constant and cruel way.

When her grandfather asks her to return to the family farm, she accepts. Her grandfather wants her to learn the ropes necessary to take over the business and puts her in contact with Marvin Garland, the farm manager. Love sparks between the two, but Allison ignores all feelings.

Marvin himself had, in the past, a brush with the law, and unknowingly, attracts the visit of dangerous criminals.

Allison, who, as a little girl, has pulled a sled carrying her injured colt for miles in order to take her beloved horse to the vet, seems unable to take any action, as a series of accidents afflict the farm. People are poisoned, a fire almost destroys the ancestral home and a noisy reporter digs into the family's secrets.

When her grandfather dies, the feelings Allison has for Marvin are the only thing that keeps her going. When Marvin's life is threatened, however, she musters all her courage—and her resolve will not forsake her until the innocent are free.

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What inspired me to write this novel?

Have you ever been trapped in a situation in which other people take control of your life without realizing what is happening? It occurred to me more than once, and I used this common fact as a central theme in The Collage. My heroine, Allison, even if self-confident and resourceful, is made believe that she has committed a crime—and the man who blackmails her is the one who is supposed to protect her: he's her husband. Naturally this make-believe is not without some background facts, but these facts have been masterly manipulated to give them a strong appearance of reality. And Allison takes them for the absolute truth and bears the consequence.

A number of collateral events concur in punching holes in the tale her husband has cleverly concocted and a number of loving people surrounding Allison help her carry her cross.

As it often happens in real life, finally the truth sneaks out in the open.

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Reviews

• "After reading THE COLLAGE, I have no doubt that author Rene Natan decided to take her own road on this one. While clearly following the standard of romantic fiction, Natan managed to sneak in an amusing undertone of subtle, tongue-in-cheek humor and outrageous plot twists that gave an extra kick to an otherwise predictable formula." — Adrienne Jones, author

• "Natan has carefully woven a tale of intrigue, murder, and deception in this delicious tale. The heroine is rather helpless and clueless, and the many men around her with the exception of her rotten husband and a crafty newspaperman seem determine to rescue her from herself." — 2005 Midwest Book Review