"Superb relationship drama"
As heavily scarred Charlotte Halsey recovers from the
brutal beating, she wonders if the police are right that
her husband Milo Robicheaux committed the atrocity as she
cannot remember. The police case is powerful as Milo has
her blood on him, cuts on his hands, and glass on his
shoes. Punching out a cop at the scene does not lend
credence to his claim that he was only trying to breathe
life into Charlotte.
Charlotte looks back over their life together starting
in the 1970s in college in Vermont where he was the rare
black winter Olympic level athlete. Years later they meet
again when she is a successful model and he is a retired
sports figure who turned to acting. They fall in love and
marry. The two public figures try to make their
interracial marriage work though outside intrusion is the
norm. What determines whether readers will enjoy WHITEGIRL
depends on the literary tastes of the audience. Those who
write the plot off as an OJ rehashing is making a mistake
because except on a superficial level, the plot is nothing
close to the Simpsons saga. Instead, the story line looks
deep into what fame under the public microscope does to
relationships. Those readers who expect a did-he-do-it
mystery will not enjoy this novel, especially the ending.
Those fans who relish an insightful perusal of the
relationship between a couple under the public's dissection
will want to read Kate Manning's deep gaze into an
interracial duo who sadly would have made it if they were
not media darlings. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted April 6, 2002
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