Prince of lost places/ Kathy Hepinstall

I read this book in Oct 04. It was one of those books where giving a summary would be giving the plot away, so I'll be deliberately vague about the story. I'll just state what would be obvious to the reader - it's about a woman who runs away from home with her son, her estranged relationship with her husband, and a detective (hired by the husband) who has a past.

You can guess more about the plot from the subject headings: (1) Mothers and sons Fiction; (2) Kidnapping, Parental Fiction'; (3) Cave dwellers Fiction; (4) Rio Grande Valley Fiction.

In its essence, I see the story as how a person's love can make one unwilling to let go -- the husband's love for his wife; the woman's love for her son. And perhaps part of the story illustrates a person's selfishness -- the main characters' willingness to go to extremes, to give up everything, just to hang on to their lost dreams.

It's a fairly short book to read. The beginning may seem a bit tedious (just a little) but it gets interesting towards the end, where everything falls into place & the reader would probably go "Ah, I see!".

The author makes it obvious that the woman has some sort of mental illness. But as the story progresses, one might start wondering if it's the husband who's ill and not the woman. The story is spiced up with the detective falling for the woman.

Page158 has a line that gives an insight of the title of the book. P165 explains the reason why she is running away.

This book is by the same author who wrote "The absence of nectar".