Family Acts

by Louise Shaffer

Louise Shaffer follows her beloved novels The Three Miss Margarets and The Ladies of Garrison Gardens with an unforgettable tale of poignancy, wit, and high drama.

Katie Harder and Randa Jennings live on opposite coasts, have never met, and have almost nothing in common–except that they’re both named after Shakespearean characters. Everything Katie has ever done or possessed–her New York City co-op, her career as a writer for a daytime drama–was given to her by her late mother, in her day a flamboyant soap opera queen. Randa, on the other hand, has escaped the trappings of a difficult past and forged a life as a single mom, juggling her work as a Hollywood business manager with the needs of her precocious eleven-year-old daughter.

Life takes an unpredictable turn for these two strangers when they jointly inherit the century-old Venable Opera House, a stately but run-down theater in small-town Georgia. Puzzled at this peculiar legacy, Katie and Randa are at first eager to unload their white elephant. But as they spend more time in the old theater, they come to realize that a rich heritage is at stake. A line of strong women–starting with Juliet Venable in the late nineteenth century–has been responsible for keeping the grand old place up and running. In the face of huge obstacles, including a dying theater culture and their own personal struggles, these singular women have gone to drastic measures to keep the opera house in the family–including burying a devastating family secret that could destroy the carefully cultivated Venable legend forever.

Now, as a local contractor seeks to tear down the landmark, Katie and Randa must decide not only if they want to unravel their mysterious connection to the theater and maintain its tradition but if they have what it takes to keep the Venable family legacy alive.

A sprawling page-turner about maintaining family honor and lifelong dreams, Family Acts is Louise Shaffer’s most powerful and assured novel to date.

Genres: Fiction, Theatre, Family

336 pages, Hardcover

First published August 28, 2007

About the author

Louise is a believer in there’s always a second chance. An actress since she was fifteen, she found herself unemployed when she was in her mid-forties. The reason was…well, she was in her mid-forties. Not a good thing if you’re an actress – aging and eating are taboo. Louise has done both. Also, she was pretty clear about the fact that she was never going to have “knee surgery.” That’s what happens when an actress of a certain age drops out of sight for six weeks and her publicist announces that she’s having an old knee injury repaired. Then the actress emerges with her eyebrows hiked up kind of high on her forehead and all those nasty little lines around her mouth seem to have vanished… oh yeah, and her knee is working fine too.

The un-surgically enhanced Louise spent two years auditioning for commercials touting high fiber cereals and denture glue, she figured there had to be something better, and she decided to try writing scripts for soap operas. Writing had actually been her first love when she was a kid. She worked as a soap writer off and on—mostly off – for the next few years. The trouble was, she got fired a lot. Because what she wanted to do was tell her own stories. Finally she fought off the devil voices – those voices inside your head that tell you you’re an idiot for dumping a paying job to follow a dream—and wrote The Three Miss Margarets. It found a home at Random House and was published. It was followed by The Ladies of Garrison Gardens, and Family Acts

Louise's latest novel, Serendipity, takes Louise back to her home in the northeast.

Today a very happy Louise lives in the lower Hudson Valley with her husband of twenty eight years, her eight cats and two rescue dogs ; the regal Joshua, and Charlie. Who is not regal. Just ask the neighbors.

Reviews

[Kitty Tomlinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two women, a show business manager from Los Angeles and a soap opera writer who grew up writing scripts for her mother, a soap opera diva, anonymously inherit an old theater (The Venable Opera House) together in Georgia. As they decide what to do with it they try to discover if they're related to the Venable family who ran the theater. They learn a lot about themselves and family ties and secrets.

[R. C. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two strangers inherit a historic opera house and through it learn of their family histories. Well written, with multiple shifts to depict the series of individuals who loved and hated the Venable theater and life in theater itself. Believable and engaging characters.

[Joanne Van · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect to like this book but it was a fun read. I had a bit of trouble remembering who all the characters were as it went back and forth past to present and got into the history of the family but I would recommend reading this.

[Susan White-Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this, it was an easy read, writing was good, characters were interesting.

[Sans Washington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking forward to reading Louise Shaffer's other books!

[Betty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read it, because it kept me hanging on, but I did not really enjoy it.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very fun book with a happy ending.

[MBenzz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have yet to be disappointed with a book from this author. Ms. Shaffer tells such great stories, they are almost impossible to put down. I am not interested in theater life AT ALL. I have never cared for Shakespeare, plays, and the whole drama that goes along with theater folk. But when Louise Shaffer writes about it, I'm hooked!

This is the story of the Venables and their theater. In the present day, Randa and Katie, who are complete strangers and from opposite coasts, inherit the Venable Opera House in a small Georgia town. The chapters go back and forth between Randa and Katie's individual stories, and the stories of past Venable's...going back as far as 1873. We learn the history of the Opera House, those who fought to keep it going, and the secrets that some of them tried to keep buried.

Ms. Shaffer has developed some very real, and interesting characters, my favorites being the early Venable's from 100 years ago. The story is set at a great pace, and there are surprises all along the way, right up to the very end. I highly recommend this book, as well as her two previous books, 'The Three Miss Margaret's' and 'The Ladies of Garrison Gardens'.
As usual, I'll be looking forward to the next novel from Ms. Shaffer...she's become one of my favorite authors :)

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

At times all the different characters were a bit much to try and keep up with. I think the way generations of characters related to one another took away from the story. In fact, it was difficult to the really get to know the "current" day characters because you were so focused on tracing back where in time the book was at that particular moment. At least there weren't lose ends left hanging- the author did a nice job of tying things together at the end. She even managed to weave the characters from her previous two books into the story which I thought was pretty neat. I think her previous novels were stronger in plots lines and were easier to pick up and put down, but in all this was a good read.

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The 'real-time' story was predictable, but I still liked it because it's what I wanted to see happen. The ending seemed a long time coming and then very suddenly concluded as if the author were running out of time. The 'historical' story was very interesting although I have to say that many of the former owners of the Venable Opera House were either so cut-throat, so pathetic, so devious, or just so disreputable that I couldn't see either main character using the history of the place as reason to carry on. Overall not a bad, albeit at times slow, read, but I don't think I'm inclined to check out other books by this author right now.

[Julie McElhaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fun book to read because it moves from the present to different times in the past to tell the story of the Venable opera house in a small Georgia town. Katie and Randa don't know each other and have inherited the property together. As the story unfolds, all the pieces start to fit and we get to meet a lot of interesting characters along the way.

I picked up this book because I had really enjoyed one of the author's earlier stories, The Three Miss Margarets. Family Acts did not disappoint!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Louise Shaffer and I enjoyed this book as well. The ony reason that I did not give this 5 stars is that it felt a little predictable in places. That being said there were also surprising stories in it and I love how the past was used to explain the present. I felt that some of the names were too similar and since the author jumped from past to present, at times I had to really think about which character I was reading about. If you liked Louise Shaffer;s other books, then you will probably enjoy this as well.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The same author with two good books!
I wasn't sure that I would like the premise (theater life) but it was engaging. Her character development is wonderful and I'm cheap with my
compliments when it comes to character development. And, because I'm
cheap I only gave it four stars. Reason being? I could barely tolerate
the 'present' time characters. This was the problem with "The Three
Miss Margarets". Her narrarators are so unlikeable! It so contradictory when compared with the rich characters that she uncovers from the past.

[Michele Minor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good book where two very different women from two different sides of the country inherit an old theater in a small Georgia town. Throughout the story we hear about the family that had operated the small theater for over one hundred years and about how the two women are connected to each other. A family secret is revealed to the readers about the Venable family that had operated the theater for over one hundred years.

[Amy Cummings · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm all for family secret novels, & novels set in the south, so this one was a win-win for me. I had no trouble with the shifts in time, but would have liked to see the contemporary characters more fleshed out. The scene with Randa & Katie meeting their philanthropist supporters near the end was just odd. No clue why the 3 gals from the foundation were staring pointedly at an empty chair.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of a potboiler, but I did want to keep reading so it says something. Liked the theme which was the entertainment world but mostly the older style, as in live theater. A bit tangled family that got separated and then a few members are brought together by a strange inheritance (an old opera house).

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two women who didn't know they were related meet and uncover their secret family history. This is a long family saga (over 100 years of living), but it's fun to read. I like strong female characters and the Venable women were certainly that. Their love of their theater forced them to even kill to keep it in the family.l

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's another branch of the Garrison Gardens and I love the little clues that you think are leading to answers, but instead, it opens up even more mystery. I love the intrigue and the strength of these characters. I could see every minute of this story in my mind's eye. Wow! So good!

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought it was good, but I think the author tried to tell too many stories in one book. Instead of giving a quick hit on the past and focusing on the present, she gave equal treatment to all. Not sure that it worked well, at least for me. I was left wanting more about the present charachters.

[Peggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two women living on opposite sides of the country inherit an old opera house in Georgia. They research the history of the house and while doing so, learn about their own family histories, family ties and develop a friendship.

[Cindy S · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book alternated between present and past. Two women, on opposite sides of the country, inherited an old opera house. The past tells the story of the house and the owners and how these two women came to inherit it. Interesting story but alittle choppy.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is about 2 women from opposite sides of the country that inherit an opera house in Georgia. There are stories told in past and present and I enjoyed reading about the family history of the opera house. Cute story with no bad language or inappropriate scenes.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I had to make myself finish it, I don't why I even bothered. The book goes back and forth in time and I really didn't like the history part, and the current part was pretty thin on characterization.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should have been great. The characters needed more stage time. I wanted to live each story but kept getting cut off too soon. The whole experience was frustrating, it was like reading "Cliff Notes".

[Christina Delaney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved, loved this book and this book series. Nothing too deep but stories that contained a little bit of everything from very special friendships, life's triumphs and disappointments, bravery, sadness, just a good look at surviving life's struggles. I highly recommend!

[Pangaea Pangaea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel has a great flow with a well developed plot. I didn't see it coming until the end. Pick up the book if you like Shakespeare and the theatre world. The characters are loveable and identifiable. For myself this is a great travel or "read on the beach" book.

[Tracey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Loved Three Miss Margarets and Ladies of Garrison Gardens but did not like this one at all. Love interests developed predictably but way to quickly. The younger daughter was not believable. No characters that I connected to. This author is normally a stand- out for me but not this time.

[RumBelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her novels about the theater are so entertaining. They have layers of mystery, romance, family and so much more. This one, about a southern opera house, and the two families connected to it was wonderful. I could not put it down

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 rating again...I enjoyed the other two books by this author but did not like this on nearly as much. It dragged as it bounced between time period in an attempt to resolve the key questions. Kind of dull.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was light reading. The characters were fine, but the book was predictable overall and slow in the middle.