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Whistling In the Dark

by Lesley Kagen (Goodreads Author)

3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 · rating details · 5,021 ratings · 888 reviews

It was the summer on Vliet Street when we all started locking our doors...

Sally O'Malley made a promise to her daddy before he died. She swore she'd look after her sister, Troo. Keep her safe. But like her Granny always said-actions speak louder than words. Now, during the summer of 1959, the girls' mother is hospitalized, their stepfather has abandoned them for a six pac...more

Paperback, 336 pages

Published May 1st 2007 by NAL Trade

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Aug 27, 2008 Roxann rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: pretty much no one

This is a Reader's Choice book featured in the Salt Lake County Library System - that's why I picked it up. They are usually good reads. This one was a disappointment to me. It's the story about two sisters in 1959, aged 9 and 10, left pretty much to their own devices one summer because of their mom's hospitalization, a dysfunctional step-dad, and an older sister who is wrapped up in her boyfriend. I loved the character, Sally - the older of the two girls. I loved her thought processes and her l...more

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Jan 24, 2010 Gail rated it 4 of 5 stars

A well written story set in Milwaukee, WI in 1959. The storyteller is a ten-year old girl who takes us back to the cultural markers of the time, from the drive-in restaurants to the former Wauwatosa site of the Milwaukee County Zoo. If you were a few years on either side of ten in 1959 you'll recognize your childhood in this book!

This is also a mystery, and the details are unrolled skillfully by the author, who grew up in Milwaukee and based some of the characters on real people she had known. A...more

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Jul 22, 2011 Nancy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I loved this book and am currently reading it again in anticipation of the sequel, Good Graces, which will be out in September. I love the voices in all of Lesley Kagen's books and especially that of Sally O'Malley in Whistling in the Dark. Sally has qualities I have always admired - common sense and attention to detail! These are qualities I identify with. Even though I wasn't yet born in 1959 when the story takes place, and even though I am decades older now than Sally is in the story - there...more

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Jan 29, 2009 JanB rated it 1 of 5 stars

I had to check several times to make sure that Sally was indeed 10 yrs old and Troo, even younger. The author tried too hard to make the narrator sound like a 10 yr old at times yet at other times the thinking, language, and experiences were of a much older girl. No way was Troo believable as a 9 yr old. Matter of fact most of the story was simply implausible. Even though the book was under 300 pages it felt much longer. The story was so slow at times that I had to fight the urge to skim just to...more

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Dec 18, 2012 Laura Joseph rated it 5 of 5 stars

How to Keep a Promise
Whistling in the Dark, by Lesley Kagen

“… things happen when you least expect them, things that can change your whole life.” Lesley Kagen, Whistling in the Dark. Lesley Kagen’s book Whistling in the Dark is a wonderful story told from the point of view of Sally O’Malley, a ten year old girl, living in Milwaukee during the summer of 1959. The story begins with Sally’s father and best friend dying in the hospital from a car accident. Sally’s father calls her into his hospital r...more How to Keep a Promise
Whistling in the Dark, by Lesley Kagen

“… things happen when you least expect them, things that can change your whole life.” Lesley Kagen, Whistling in the Dark. Lesley Kagen’s book Whistling in the Dark is a wonderful story told from the point of view of Sally O’Malley, a ten year old girl, living in Milwaukee during the summer of 1959. The story begins with Sally’s father and best friend dying in the hospital from a car accident. Sally’s father calls her into his hospital room right before he dies and makes her promises for after he’s gone. Her father tells her that she has to take care of Troo, her younger sister, and tell Troo that the crash wasn’t her fault. He then made her promise to tell her mother that he forgave her for what she did. So Sally who absolutely adored her father promised and said good bye as he fell asleep, the nurse came to get her before she ever got the chance to say sorry. The story goes on as the girls move off their farm into the city to live with their new step father. The girl’s mother gets sick and has to be hospitalized, leaving the girls with their step father who proceeds to leave them on their own. The girls adapt to taking care of themselves and going to friends houses for meals. Sally never forgetting that promise she made to her father, but still never saying anything to either Too or her mother. The story gets interesting when a series of murders occur involving young girls. Sally believes she is next and has to find out who is killing these people. However Sally is known to have a wild imagination and no one believes her, making you as a reader question imagination from reality. This book is a fantastic story showing the innocence of youth along with the struggles of children going through great change. Whistling in the Dark shows what it means to keep a promise, forgive, and love one another no matter what. In the book Whistling in the Dark you get to experience life after a great loss and change through Sally.
The plot in the book has just the right amount of suspense while maintaining and easy to read simply quality. There is never a dull moment in the girls ever changing lives and you will become swept away with this sweet tale. The book also has surprising plot twists as the book goes on dragging you deeper into the touching story. The setting of the book is in Milwaukee Wisconsin, which I enjoyed, because I had heard of some of the places the girls went to, like the zoo and Sampson the gorilla.
“When I was sure she was asleep, I got up and went into Mother's room and pulled her yellow nightie out from the bottom drawer of her dresser, and then I got Daddy's Timex from the dressing table and put it on my wrist. After I said my prayers and told Daddy I was sorry like I did every night, I laid down at the foot of Mother's bed and drifted off to the sound of rain that was strong enough to be good for the crops, and tried and tried to remember the last time I felt safe.” This is said by Sally talking to Troo. Sally is charming with her innocent, kind hearted and easy going, allowing the reader to really empathize with her and what she goes through in a time not as innocent as sometimes thought. However her sister, Troo compliments Sally with her outgoing and bold personality. The book also has good side characters such as the girls older sister, Nell, who is portrayed out to be love stuck and ignorant to the girls well being. The characters are realistic and relatable allowing you to really picture the story.
Whistling in the Dark is a historical fiction mystery that is uplifting and enjoyable. I think anyone would find this book good, with its great story line, characters and lessons. It is a bit slow at times, but suspense full in others. It’s a beautifully written story that shows a child growing up, maturing and changing as she faces different challenges in her life and in a way loses that innocence that surrounds childhood. The ending wraps the book up perfectly and will not leave you disappointed.
What does it mean and take to keep a promise as well as fully forgive or accept someone, Sally goes on her own journey to find this out in the book Whistling in the Dark. “Life, it is not simple like a garden, where flowers are always flowers and weeds are always weeds.” This Sally discovers and so will you if you read the wonderful book Whistling in the Dark.

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Feb 28, 2012 Shelly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelly's Thoughts: I liked this book. It's a quick little read, and overall decent. However, there's one super huge flaw for me. The fact that there is so much going on in 'small town USA in the 1950s." There's a murderer, a molester, a drunk stepfather, a mother in the hospital for most of the book, slapping kids around, a 'ghost', an African American woman who had escaped from the KKK in the south, a disabled elderly woman, a boy with polio who bullies others, a gay man, a gay priest, two ment...more

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Oct 28, 2011 Rebecca Winner rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone!!

I have only one word to describe Whistling in the Dark........and that is WOW!!!! I had never read any of Lesley Kagens books before and just happened to find a copy of this book...I loved this book so much, the first thing I did when I was done with it, was to go to Amazon.com and order all Lesley Kagen's other books! This is a coming of age book about two little girls who are on their own because their mother is hospitalized...their stepfather is an uncaring drunk and their older sister is in...more

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May 18, 2011 Jonna Doughty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Sally O'Mally has a big imagination, but she's not entirely wrong. Someone is murdering & molesting the little girls in her neighborhood, and someone is watching her. Are they the same person? Read the book, and find out.
I enjoyed this book, and read it all in one sitting , but there were some things that confused me. Little details, like ages: how old are Sally, and her sisters? There are hints given, but never a definite age, and that bothered me. We never know for sure what city the novel...more

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Mar 12, 2010 Marielle rated it 5 of 5 stars

Synopsis: Sally O’Malley is a young little girl, with a strong heart and a young little sister who needs protecting, named Troo. But lately, in the summer of 1959, scary things too big for two little girls to be dealing with alone, with the father dead, mother in the hospital, a drunk step father and a big sister who’s too worried about her boyfriend. Their other young friends have been found dead, naked and raped and Sally believes that she’s next. She thinks she knows who did it, but she’s alw...more

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Oct 12, 2009 Lori rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was a quick read, but has stayed with me since I finished it about a week ago. The characters were really compelling and well developed, and the setting of a small town in the late 50's really came alive for me.

Both the protagonist, Sally, her sister Troo, as well as their friends and the adults she interacts with come to life through the eyes of ten year old Sally. Though there are some disturbing and frightening scenes in the book, the point of view of Sally's character brings innoce...more

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Aug 17, 2009 Pam rated it 2 of 5 stars

Lesley Kagen was born in 1949. She said she wrote this book partly to spend time again in 1959. She wanted to revisit a time in her life when things were simpler, but not as simple as they appeared to a ten year old. (It's told through the eyes of a ten year old girl whose misinterpretations of sophisticated and suggestive conversation gets old pretty fast.) Growing up in the 50s, I also enjoyed the frequent references to cultural events and artifacts that took me back to my childhood. The exoti...more

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Jul 12, 2009 Lavada rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fabulously written from the perspective of a 10 year old. Here's a couple of my favorite excerpts - don't worry, they won't ruin the book:

To tell you the truth, I didn't get half of what went on up at that church. With all the Latin mumbo jumbo and the Stations of the Cross and the nuns who waltzed like ice skaters wherever they went but would smack you a good one for not singing along with a hymn. I didn't even get what my First Communion was supposed to be about, even thought people made a big...more

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Jun 13, 2009 Hilarie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Sally O'Malley knows what's really going on. At least, she knows more than any of the adults in her life would believe possible. It is 1959, and Sally is missing her father, who recently died in a car accident which occurred in the company of Sally's uncle and her little sister Troo. Sally made some promises to her father before he died, and the most important is that she would look after her sister. Sally, who is delightfully earnest, has every intention of following through to the letter. In t...more

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Nov 25, 2011 Mario rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, mystery, suspense

Despite my rating, I actually thought that this book was really good while I was reading it. This is definitely well-written and a good read overall, but, in the end, the mystery is a little disappointing and the setting is just too contrived for my taste. It's one thing if your main character is a good person, but there is such a thing as being too good. Sally has the perfect politically correct reaction to every kind of person, and nearly every kind of person manages to be represented on the s...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Sharron rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a walk down memory lane! While not idealic, many of the things in Sally O'Malley's childhood mirrored mine--Kick the Can, Red Light Green Light on the street on a hot summer night. This is a story which takes place in 1959 when life was simpler. The O'Malley sisters were faced with some pretty difficult situations for 2 sisters less than a year apart. Sally being 10 promised her father she would watch out for Troo her younger sister when he died in an automobile accident. Mom quickly marrie...more

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May 02, 2011 Jen C (ReadinginWBL) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-read-in, book-group

I check out my copy of Whistling in the Dark from the public library. I read Whistling in the Dark as the monthly selection for my book club, “Wine, Women and Words”.

Though I was not yet born in 1959, I grew up in small town, USA and had a similar childhood venturing off in our small town. Nothing ever happens in small town, USA. I am sure that is how the parents felt that summer in Milwaukee. The two main characters, Sally and Troo O’Malley were ages 10 and 9. Troo was a feisty girl with a bit...more

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May 20, 2009 Marty rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sally and Troo O'Malley are 2 sisters growing up in Milwaukee in a dysfunctional family in a 1959 neighborhood full of quirky families, friends, and someone who likes little girls too much . . . in fact 2 children are dead and Sally O'Malley thinks she's next! Sally's mother is hospitalized, her step-father is a drunken abuser, her older sister is too in love with her boyfriend to care about her little half sisters, so the girls drift from home to home inviting themselves to dinner. Troo shoplif...more

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Dec 16, 2011 Jenh rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club

December 2011 Lori B's pick

I did not expect to like this book as much as I did. It was really cute and funny, and the narrator's voice (of a 10-year old in the 1950s) felt authentic. This is the story of Sally O'Malley and her little sister Troo (who is 8). Their father has died and their mother has remarried an alcoholic jerk. Mother ends up in the hospital with a serious illness--leaving Sally and Troo pretty much on their own. There is an older sister who is busy with her own life (beauty sc...more

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Sep 20, 2011 LORI CASWELL rated it 5 of 5 stars

Whistling In the Dark takes place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1959, and is written from 10 year old Sally O'Malley's point of view. She has a little sister Troo, and a older sister Nell, her father was killed in a car accident, her mother then married Hall who is not much of a step father.

Her mother ends up spending most of the summer in the hospital due to complications of surgery. Nell is caught up with her boyfriend and Hall is busy with another woman or has drown himself in liquor or both....more
Whistling In the Dark takes place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1959, and is written from 10 year old Sally O'Malley's point of view. She has a little sister Troo, and a older sister Nell, her father was killed in a car accident, her mother then married Hall who is not much of a step father.

Her mother ends up spending most of the summer in the hospital due to complications of surgery. Nell is caught up with her boyfriend and Hall is busy with another woman or has drown himself in liquor or both. The two little girls are left on their own but it is back in the time when your neighbors knew everybody and everybody watched out for each other. Sally and Troo were fed and taken care of my the good folks of the neighborhood.

The area is living in fear of a child molester and murderer. Two little girls have gone missing and one was found dead in the park where Sally and Troo play everyday. Sally is sure she will be the next victim. She even believes she knows who the killer is and will do everything she can to keep her and her sister safe.

My Thoughts
There are so many reasons I loved this book. First Sally has a very active imagination just like I was told I had while growing up so it was so easy to relate to her. I wasn't born until 1961 but references in this book were true to what I remember or had been told as I grew up. The trips to the zoo brought back such memories. There must to be very few people from Southern Wisconsin that do not remember going to see the Gorilla named Sampson at the Milwaukee Public Zoo!

"The Ape That Made Milwaukee Famous"
Beyond the memories this story churned up, it is marvelously written. Funny, surprising, and full of charm yet tragic in places. Sally's innocence will have you laughing one minute and wiping a tear from your eye the next. All the characters were wonderfully created.

The story reminds us of simpler times, when kids played outside until the streetlights came on and the neighbors watched out and took care of your skinned knees or brought out a plate of cookies to share. I understand completely why it was a national bestseller. This book is definitely a must read, plus a sequel to the bookGood Graces that came out in September and I can't wait to get my hands on it. I am anxious to read everything by this author.(less)

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Apr 30, 2013 Kourtney rated it 3 of 5 stars

I think I had my expectations set too high for this book. Looking back, now that I am finished, it was a better book than I was thinking as I was reading it. However, it wasn't as good as I had hoped. I am a sucker for a good book about sibling bonds and was hoping for more.

A lot happened in this book and that might also be part of my disconnect. Just seems like SO much happened to these two sisters in just a couple of summer months. I did really enjoy their bonding and that they would, and did,...more

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Jun 12, 2012 Christine Bode rated it 4 of 5 stars

It’s the summer of 1959 and ten-year-old Sally O’Malley and her sister Troo are on summer vacation. Their daddy recently died in a car crash and their mother quickly remarried a nasty piece of work named Hall, a shoe salesman who prefers the bottle to being a husband or surrogate father.

"With the bad luck Mother was having with her husbands, Troo and me figured that one of the reasons she had married Hall so fast after Daddy died was because he didn’t look like he’d decease anytime soon, with hi...more It’s the summer of 1959 and ten-year-old Sally O’Malley and her sister Troo are on summer vacation. Their daddy recently died in a car crash and their mother quickly remarried a nasty piece of work named Hall, a shoe salesman who prefers the bottle to being a husband or surrogate father.

"With the bad luck Mother was having with her husbands, Troo and me figured that one of the reasons she had married Hall so fast after Daddy died was because he didn’t look like he’d decease anytime soon, with his muscles and wavy Swedish hair and that tattoo on the top part of his arm that said MOTHER. Nell said that tattoo must have impressed the hell right out of Helen. And maybe it had right after Daddy died. But now Mother was stuck with Hall because if you were a Catholic you couldn’t get a divorce unless you wanted to go straight to hell and burn for all eternity. If you were a Catholic, Granny said, the only thing you could do if you didn’t want to be married anymore was to pray really hard for a certain shoe-selling louse to get run over by a bus on his way to work."

When their mother Helen falls ill with a mysterious staph infection and ends up in hospital for a prolonged stay, the O’Malley sisters are left in the not so secure care of Hall and their older half-sister Nell, who is so busy with her boyfriend Eddie that she can’t seem to get any food on the table for her little sisters, except for maybe some tuna noodle casserole, but she burns it when she does. So Sally and Troo are on the loose in their neighbourhood where they know exactly whose house to show up at during dinner time and where they’re busy preparing themselves for the annual 4th of July celebrations. However, what’s truly disturbing them is that there’s a murderer and molester of little girls at large on Vliet Street during this summer, the summer when everyone started locking their doors.

Junie Piaskowski and Sara Heinemann have been found dead, almost a year apart, with their small bodies molested and strangled, and Sally is convinced that she’s next. She’s particularly suspicious of Officer Dave Rasmussen, who all the adults around her insist is a good egg, but she’s sure that he’s the killer. When Sally eventually finds out the truth about Rasmussen, it changes her life forever.

Sally made a promise to her daddy before he died and swore that she would look after her sister Troo, whose real name is Margaret and nicknamed Trooper because she always behaves like one. Sally admires her sister because she’s fearless, funny, popular, and everything that Sally thinks that she isn’t. In fact she’s a Troo genius. Sally is the moral compass in this tale in which most of her elders, except for her black Southern Baptist best friend Ethel Jenkins, who lives with Mrs. Galecki, don’t pay attention to what their children have to say.

The secondary characters of Ethel Jenkins, Mrs. Galecki’s son Mr. Gary who visits from California, Rasmussen, the skinniest kid in the world: peeping Mary Lane, Fast Suzie Fazio, “Mongoloid” Wendy Latour and her evil brother Reese, Greasy Al Molinari, Sally’s landlady Mrs. Goldman, Henry Fitzpatrick and Sampson the gorilla at the local zoo, are wonderfully depicted but there are a whole cast of characters here who would feel as equally at a home in a John Waters movie as they would in To Kill A Mockingbird.

Whistling in the Dark was Lesley Kagen’s debut novel (hardcover published in 2007) and it was recommended to me by a friend of my mom’s. It took a while for me to get around to reading it but I’m really glad that I did because it’s a gem of a story with a narrative led by ten-year-old Sally in a language that’s as rich, humorous and imaginative as young Sally’s overactive imagination. Encompassing the themes of loss, both of people we love and the loss of our innocence in childhood, as well as fear – fear of our feelings, fear of what people think, and fear of the unknown – Whistling in the Dark is an immensely entertaining, clever and tender tale of relationships, mystery and discovery that will take you back to your own childhood, no matter what decade you grew up in.(less)

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Nov 26, 2011 Marti rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: overdrive-electronic-library, zzz-books-2011, pop-fiction

This is an unusual story set in the summer of 1959. Sally and Troo are sisters who have been pretty much left on their own for most of the summer. Their mother is in the hospital and is only spoken about in hushed tones. Their step father - a drinker at best of times - has left them alone in charge of their older sister Nellie. Nellie has her on agenda for the summer and taking care of her younger sisters is not part of it. Sallie's neighborhood of Vliet Street is a neighborhood where children p...more

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Jan 07, 2011 Donna rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Pat

I really loved this book. It follows the story of 10-year-old Sally and her younger sister, Troo, through a very traumatic summer. The setting is Milwaukee, 1959, and there is a serial child molester/murderer on the loose. To make it even worse, Sally has reason to believe that she is next on the list. The girls' widowed mother is in the hospital, their new stepfather comes home drunk and mean (when he comes home at all) and their teen-age half sister is too busy with her boyfriend and beauty s...more I really loved this book. It follows the story of 10-year-old Sally and her younger sister, Troo, through a very traumatic summer. The setting is Milwaukee, 1959, and there is a serial child molester/murderer on the loose. To make it even worse, Sally has reason to believe that she is next on the list. The girls' widowed mother is in the hospital, their new stepfather comes home drunk and mean (when he comes home at all) and their teen-age half sister is too busy with her boyfriend and beauty school to look after them. So they are left to fend for themselves. Sally is convinced she knows who the murderer is, but no one believes her because of her reputation for having a wild imagination. Also, the man she is accusing is a squeaky clean police officer whom the whole town adores.
Even though this is set in the city and a few years before my time, it still brought back memories of my own childhood. The carefree feeling summer brings, the fun, the innocence, having to grow up way too soon, adults that disappoint and take advantage - it's all there and captured beautifully by the author. I even remember playing "red light, green light" in the yard like all the neighborhood kids in the book do (although I think we played it a little differently). Even sisters sharing a bed and rubbing each others' backs before falling asleep - did that, too. Reading this really was like stepping back in time and being a kid again.
There were many, many characters - after all, Kagen brings a whole neighborhood to life. But they don't bog down the story - just the opposite. They all paint a rich and vibrant picture of life on a multi-cultural street and how people interacted with each other and looked out for each other and yes, sometimes, even hated each other.
I highly recommend this book. Especially if you grew up in the 50's and 60's because it will have you feeling the sun on your bare feet and counting the minutes until dark so you can play the red light, green light game...

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Sep 26, 2009 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is another book that I wish I could rate ->between<- the star parameters. Perhaps half a star more for some reasons, half a star less for others.

Although much of the book was not plausible for me (whoever heard of every tragedy/crime/familial issue/sexual deviation/type of individual diversity living within what appears to be about a two block radius of each other??)(the narrator and her sister are how old? NINE and TEN??) it was still engaging and enjoyable and the perfect book to pi...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Nicole rated it 1 of 5 stars

Whistling in the Dark. Blah. What a disappointing read. My colleagues really seemed to enjoy this book. I am trying to figure out why as I felt the story was implausible and contrived. I disliked that the author pepper the story with every subject matter possible. Lesley Kagen’s story introduced extramarital affairs, teen pregnancy, homosexuality, substance abuse, neglect, the mentally disabled, bullying, racial injustices, loss, serious illness, coming of age, murder and molestation. (The list...more

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Jan 24, 2013 Lori rated it 4 of 5 stars

an almost four. Whistling in the Dark takes place in the summer of 1959. it is narrated by Sally a ten year old girl. she is told to look after her year younger sister "Troo" her mother is in the hospital for surgery and ends up being very ill with Hepatitis. they are supposed to be watched by their step father and older sister Nell. but she is too busy with her boyfriend and the stepfather Hall, is too busy getting drunk .so the girls are on their own. during this time their is a child killer o...more

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Nov 23, 2011 Anika Ferguson rated it 4 of 5 stars

I just finished this book! I loved the way Lesley wrote from Sally's point of view. Her voice was one I fell in love with. Her simple view of the people and world around her was so enjoyable! There was just enough suspense and red herrings to keep me wondering until the very end! I loved the descriptions of all the neighbors and the neighborhood and especially her love for her daddy "the sky king". It strikes a chord of how little girls all think their daddy is the greatest.
Although I loved thi...more

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May 24, 2012 和泉美優 rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: may-2012, adult, horror, mystery, action-books, historical-fiction

With their mother hospitalized and a step-father with no heart for them, Sally and Troo O'Malley must try to survive the summer with a molester and murderer on the loose. Sally has suspicions about who it is, but her sister has different ideas.

I started reading this book because my dad had recommended it to me. And one would think my dad loves reading action thrillers is impossible after reading this book. I found this book boring at many times, where Sally would just express her thoughts on t...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Gayla Champenois rated it 4 of 5 stars

Great story - shocking ending.

I really felt for Sally. So much trama for such a small girl. She lived in a time that was immune to media coverage and mininmal adult intervention were she was basicly left to fend for herself and her sister.

Some times I think ignorance is bliss. I hate to watch all the heartache that we now find in news coverage of tragedy and loss. But, on the flip side it has given people in general an awakening that there are truely bad people out there that hurt children.

As...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Gloria Liposchak rated it 4 of 5 stars

1950's, two sisters, one of whom has figured out who it is that rapes and murders little girls.
Very entertaining. Reminded me of Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Sally O'Malley made a promise to her daddy before he died. She swore she'd look after her sister, Troo. Keep her safe. But like her Granny always said-actions speak louder than words. Now, during the summer of 1959, the girls' mother is hospitalized, their stepfather has abandoned them for a six pack, and their big sister, Nell, is too bu...more

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About Lesley Kagen

Lesley Kagen is a mother of two, an actress, former restaurateur, accomplished equestrian, celebrated public speaker, and an award winning, New York Times bestselling author of Whistling in the Dark, Land of a Hundred Wonders, Tomorrow River and Good Graces. Her novels have also been published in the Netherlands, China, Taiwan, Germany, Italy, Turkey and Russia. She lives in Wisconsin. Find readin...more

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“...things happen when you least expect them. Things that can change your whole life.” — 18 people liked it

“...things can happen when you least expect them so you always gotta be prepared. And pay attention to the details. The devil is in the details.” — 14 people liked it

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/913689.Whistling_In_the_Dark?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1355080415l/913689.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/913689.Whistling_In_the_Dark?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Whistling In the Dark by Lesley Kagen[/url]

Whistling In the Dark

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