This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Marlene Lee has worked as a court reporter, teacher, college instructor, and writer. A graduate of Kansas Wesleyan University (BA), University of Kansas (MA), and Brooklyn College (MFA), she currently tutors in the Writing Center at the University of Missouri. She has published numerous stories, poems, and essays. The Absent Woman, her debut novel, is set in Washington State where she lived in Seattle and, with her husband, had a sailboat in Anacortes.
The settings in Marlene Lee’s work are almost characters in themselves. She would have difficulty choosing a favorite among the places where she has lived: small town and city, Kansas and Missouri, Northern and Southern California, Oregon and Washington, and New York City.
Marlene has two sons and four grandchildren. She divides her time between a condominium in Columbia, Missouri and an Upper West Side apartment in Manhattan.
Reviewed by Maria Beltran for Readers' Favorite
"The Absent Woman" is the story of a woman's journey to find herself. Virginia Johnstone seems to have it all: a beautiful family, a job and a comfortable life in Seattle. She is, however, bored with her life and the urge to give it a meaning drives her to divorce and to an old hotel in Hilliard, a harbor town. An accomplished piano player, she finds a teacher in Hilliard and things begin to unravel. Twilah Chan drives her piano playing to a new level and her son George becomes Virginia's love interest. At the same time, the story of the absent woman who used to live at the hotel is revealed as Virginia herself feels like the absent woman in her children's lives.
Marlene Lee's novel "The Absent Woman" tries to dissect the phenomenon of women who seem to have everything but find out that there is something important that is missing in their lives. This is actually what the title suggests and the book also follows through with this assumption. In simple words and trying not to be prejudicial against men, the author succeeds in exploring the thoughts and emotions of Virginia objectively. She leaves it to the reader to come up with their own ideas and insights. This is the reason why Virginia's story is thought-provoking and interesting. Drawing in part from her own experience, Marlene Lee has been able to paint a portrait of today's women who feel trapped in their marriage and situation. Using her gift for dialogue and description, the author effectively draws her readers to turn the pages of the book and follow Virginia as she tries to look for herself.
