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The Flaming Corsage takes place at the turn of the century, just as the despised, impoverished Irish begin to flex the muscles of political empowerment. But historical context is not as prominent on Kennedy's agenda as the enduring constituents of daily life in any age: sexual obsession, envy, guilt, disappointment in the beloved, despair, and the addiction of revenge.
The story opens dramatically with a murder-suicide in a "love nest." As Kennedy weaves back and forth in time before and after this event, we meet the principals in all the intemperance of their youth, learn what kinds of betrayal and anger simmer in the background, and hear several versions of exactly what happened on the day itself.
The Flaming Corsage is a triumph of one writer's continuing search for the truth of all America in the streets, drawing rooms, bars, and hidden private lives of one signal town.
Charles Flowers is the author of Down the Mississippi (Reader's Digest International).
©1996, ProMotion, inc.
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