Conscience Point

by Erica Abeel

Madeleine Shaye has a successful dual career as a concert pianist and TV arts correspondent, a great relationship with her grown daughter, and a love affair that is the envy of friends. She believes she has all the luck. But her blissful life suddenly unravels in this genre-bending novel about a mysterious love with two faces, a shocking betrayal, and the passion to reclaim old dreams.

Genres: Fiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Erica Abeel, author of Wild Girls, is a novelist, journalist, and former dancer, who has published five books, including Women Like Us (a Book of the Month Club selection), Only When I Laugh, I’ll Call You Tomorrow and Other Lies Between Men and Women, and Conscience Point. Based in New York and Long Island, she writes about women rebels who dared to live against the grain before the upheavals of the 1960s and shows how their lives unfold over subsequent decades. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, Esquire, and Ms, among many other publications and websites. In addition, Abeel reviews films and interviews directors for The Huffington Post and Film Journal International.

Reviews

[Jim Glass · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't care for the style or the story at all. It jumped around too much and never really developed either the scene or the character before it did. I would have dumped it after the first two chapters however I make myself finish any book that I start.

[Serena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erica Abeel's Conscience Point, published by Unbridled Books, started off rough for me, with shifts in tone and language for one of the main characters, Nick Ashcroft. After about 60 pages or so, I became absorbed in the dark secrets and the Gothic mystery surrounding the once lavish estate of Conscience Point. Madeleine Shaye is a concert pianist, an arts journalist, a mother, and a lover who allows passion to derail her career and lead her down a path that is wrought with disappointment and heartache. Nick Ashcroft and his sister Violet lead Shaye onto this path and become the center of her world, despite Maddie's obliviousness. The deep secret that tears her relationship with Nick apart is predictable at best, but Abeel weaves a setting that captivates the read and lulls them into the fantasy.

Shaye is a young pianist befriended by an eccentric artist from a wealthy New York family, Violet Ashcroft. She's easily dazzled by the estate, Conscience Point's ambiance, and the stormy eyes of Violet's brother Nick. Despite the separation between Nick and Maddie that lasts several years and through one marriage each, they connect as most artists will with exploding passion in a paradise far from their "real" worlds. Their love is a fantasy that sweeps up Maddie and leaves her blind to the reality of her self-constructed family. "Love cannot dwell with suspicion" is an apt theme running through the first portion of this novel, which stems from an ancient Roman myth featuring Cupid and Psyche. However, amidst the turmoil that her life becomes, Maddie is once again swept up by her true passion--music.

Through the initial pages of the novel, Nick uses terms like "thistle-y" and "joint," which seem incongruous, and the narrator interrupts herself to stop herself from digressing. These sections can be disruptive to the reader, but as they become less frequent and the pace of the drama picks up, the reader is absorbed.

"She'd never imagined you could love this hard yet keep yourself for your work. They swung through the hours, grooved as trapeze artists. Nick understood the musician's life, its ardor and implacable demands. . . . She in turn marveled at how he teased out the shapely book hiding in some winding manuscript;" (page 46)

While the plot of this novel is often cliche in many ways, the real gem is the poetic language and intricate weave of music and art throughout the novel. Maddie's magic fingers hit the keys and the reader is drawn into the world of an artist, and again conversations with her friend Anton about music and its composers easily draws readers into their highly dramatic world.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Conscience Point tells the story of Maddy, a concert pianist, and her family. Things seem to be going right for Maddy, she appears to have a loving relationship with her boyfriend and a typical relationship with her adopted daughter. However, things are not as they seem. When Maddy discovers a secret relationship between hew boyfriend and daughter, she takes matters into her own hands and plots their downfall.

There are many twists to this story, and I enjoyed as they unraveled. It took me awhile to get into this story and to understand what was happening. It jumps around in time, and was often difficult for me to follow. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would recommend it as an interesting read.

[Scott Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how to adequately describe this novel . . . perhaps not unlike a good martini, it is one part Le Divorce, one part Nabokov, a hefty douse of Great Gatsby, and a dash of Susan Sontag; albeit too much spice (graphic sex and language) for my tastes . . . but the blended drink is a unique Erica Abeel concoction! I am in awe of Abeel's command of language (French and English), her vocabulary, and her fluency in classical music. But what pours forth from this blend is an amazingly warm potion of human relationships and loyalty. The novel had me hooked from the 3rd chapter . . . I read the next 200 pages in approximately three sittings!

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this book a lot -- echoes of Brideshead Revistited (one of my all time favorite novels) -- but with modern themes of idealism, looking for love, working women, aging, etc.

[Cecily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just finished this book. It was a quick read and enjoyable but predictable.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story but I found her writing style a bit obtuse.