Bereft over her miserable existence, Nellie Cross hangs herself in Allison’s closet. Allison, having lashed out at Nellie for her harsh view of the people in Peyton Place, blames herself for Nellie’s death, but Doc Swain lies and says that Nellie Cross was seriously ill and committed suicide as a result.
Under cover of night, Lucas slinks back into town and attempts to rape Selena yet again. This time Selena murders him, and together she and her younger brother bury him in the sheep pen in their yard. Selena’s crime is soon discovered, and she is taken to jail.
Allison, now working as a reporter for a New York magazine, returns on assignment to cover the sensational trial of her old friend. During the testimony, Doc Swain, at the risk of destroying his career and possibly being sent to jail, reveals the truth about Selena’s abortion. The jury acquits Selena. And Doc Swain, so admired for his brave actions, is excused for his behavior by the citizens of Peyton Place.
When Allison returns to Peyton Place, she, like her mother before her, is having an affair with a married man. Realizing she is on the verge of making the same mistakes her mother did, Allison sees that the only way to avoid the same fate is to break free of the love affair and finally come to peace with the cruelty, the kindness, and the ugliness of her hometown, Peyton Place.
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Harper Lee, 1960
Atticus Finch is a widowed lawyer in Maycomb, Alabama, in the 1930s. His daughter, Scout, her brother, Jem, and their friend Dill spend their summers relishing all the mischief their childhood can provide. They work on their tree house, playact some of their favorite stories, and, in a fit of boredom, decide to lure Boo Radley, the town bogeyman, out of his home.
As the school year nears its end, Scout and Jem discover that someone is leaving them treats and toys inside the knothole of the tree in front of the Radley place. They find chewing gum, Indian Head pennies, soap sculptures, and a broken watch. But as soon as the children begin leaving things themselves, the knothole is filled with cement. The children are saddened at losing the connection to Boo but gradually realize he is still reaching out to them in other understated ways.
One day at school, Scout is teased about her father’s defending the black man Tom Robinson. The town begins to ostracize the children, and Atticus pleads with Jem and Scout not to argue or fight back. Tom Robinson is being accused of raping a white woman, Mayella Ewell, and Atticus, who believes the man is innocent, knows Robinson doesn’t stand a chance of getting a fair trial. Even his sister, Alexandra, thinks Atticus is shaming their family by taking on this case.
When the trial begins, Jem, Scout, and Dill all watch from the upstairs balcony, the only place blacks are allowed. Sure enough, even after Atticus does a convincing job of establishing Tom’s innocence, the jury finds Tom guilty. Atticus soon goes to work on an appeal, but Tom, sensing the unfairness of the system he’s up against, attempts to escape from prison, only to be shot and killed. Atticus tries to console Jem and Scout by suggesting that because the jury had taken a long time to reach their verdict, some “progress” on racial issues is being made.
Later that fall, Scout plays the role of a ham in a school pageant. Scout wears her costume home, and Jem walks along with her. The children are soon attacked by Bob Ewell, the man accused by Atticus of beating his daughter and lying about Tom Robinson’s rape. In the struggle, Jem’s arm is broken and he falls unconscious. Scout, because of her costume, can’t rightly tell what happens. When she arrives home, a strange man is carrying Jem inside the house, and Scout realizes the man is Boo and that he was the one who saved them from Bob Ewell.
In fact, Ewell had a knife and tried to stab Scout; only her costume protected her from injury. During the scuffle with Boo, Bob Ewell “fell” onto his knife and died almost instantly.
Tom Robison is dead, and so is Bob Ewell. It wasn’t pretty, but the children are wiser to the strange sort of justice alive in Maycomb, Alabama. In a final moment, when Scout walks Boo back to his house, she gets a glimpse of the view their strange neighbor has always had and understands what Atticus has been harping on for so long, that we can understand others only by standing in their shoes.
VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, Jacqueline Susann, 1966
It’s New York, 1945. The war is over and the world is brimming with optimism. When she arrives in the Big Apple, so is Anne Welles. Anne is beautiful, resourceful, and sincere, thrilled by even the simplest pleasures of living in the big city. She’s beautiful enough to be a model, but Anne Welles just wants to work in an office and soon lands a secretarial job at Bellamy and Bellows, one of the top theatrical firms in town.
Anne befriends Neely O’Hara (Scarlett’s granddaughter?), a talented young ingenue who stars in a two-bit vaudeville act and lives in Anne’s building, and Jennifer North, a buxom blonde with all the talent of a tin can.
Before you know it, Anne is enamored of Lyon Burke but is engaged to Allen Cooper, a dopey insurance salesman who turns out to be a multimillionaire; Jennifer has just dumped her Arabian prince boyfriend and has now set her sights on Tony Polar, the debonair lounge lizard; and Neely, soon to become a star in her own right, is engaged to her boyfriend, Mel Harris.
Neely becomes a huge star in Los Angeles and completely neglects Mel. She drinks and does drugs. He grows bored, and they divorce.
Jennifer learns that Tony has a form of mental retardation. His sister controls his image, his decisions, and his life, and she tells Jennifer that whatever Tony has, he’s likely to pass on to his children. Jennifer aborts their child, and they too divorce.
Anne never wanted to marry Allen but was engaged regardless. She calls it off and professes her love for Lyon Burke. Burke claims to love her, too, but won’t marry her until his career as a writer can support the two of them. When Anne’s mother passes away and leaves her the house in Lawrenceville, Burke offers Anne a compromise. He’ll marry her right away if they can live in this house. But Anne so desperately wants to stay away from her hometown that she denies Burke’s offer, and, brokenhearted, he leaves for England.
Jennifer visits Neely in Los Angeles and learns that she’s going to marry her fashion designer. Neely also fills Jennifer in on which “dolls” can help her sleep at night and which can help take the weight off after a pregnancy. If Jennifer is going to star in French art-house films (which she is), she’s going to have to look her best. It’s topless, at least.
With Lyon Burke out of the picture, Anne marries Kevin Gillmore, the owner of Gillmore Cosmetics. Anne finally attempts a career at modeling and becomes an overnight sensation. Her union with Gillmore is passionless and unsatisfying, and he reintroduces Anne to Burke as a test of her love—a test she fails miserably as she and Burke renew their romance.
Neely, on the other hand, is drinking heavily, addicted to the “dolls,” and losing money for the film studios; she has witnessed her husband kissing another man, missed her children’s birthdays and attempted suicide once.
In a fit of desperation, she begs Anne to let her come to New York and stay with her. Just as she’s poised to make her comeback, she loses her voice. Fearful and anxious, Neely slits her wrists. She survives, barely, and is committed to a sanitarium.
Jennifer then returns to the United States from her art-film sojourn and becomes engaged to Senator Winston Adams. She thinks she’s finally found the right man, but when she’s diagnosed with breast cancer, she realizes he loves only her body. Jennifer opts to take her own life rather than lose a breast.
Anne concocts a scheme to help Burke buy out the agency and take on Neely, fresh from her stint in rehab, as their first major signing. The setup works for a while until Neely and Burke begin to have an affair. Anne is already pregnant, so instead of losing the marriage, she ignores the betrayal.
Neely demands that Burke divorce Anne, but he refuses to leave her because it might mean losing his daughter. The agency then signs a newer, younger sensation, Margie Parks, and Neely attempts suicide a third time when she realizes that Burke is havi
ng an affair with this younger actress.
During a New Year’s Eve party at their house, Anne witnesses Burke’s infidelity with Margie. Realizing that there will always be a line of Neely O’Haras and Margie Parkses, and steadied by her dependence on the “dolls,” Anne returns to the party understanding that in some strange and unfortunate way, she got everything she wanted.
And they all live unhappily ever after.
THE GODFATHER, Mario Puzo, 1969
According to Sicilian tradition, no father can deny a request for a favor on the day of his daughter’s wedding, and so it is that Don Vito Corleone is meeting privately with guests who hope to receive the help and support of their Godfather. All the Don asks in return is their undying loyalty and friendship. One favor he won’t grant, however, is supporting Virgil “the Turk” Sollozzo’s foray into drug trafficking. The Don’s denial of Sollozzo is what ultimately sets off “the five families war of 1945.”
Angry at the rejection of his business plan, Sollozzo arranges a hit on the Don. The Godfather is badly injured, and Sonny, the eldest son, rages out of control with bloodlust. Fredo, the middle child, was with the Don when the hit happened and is now shell-shocked, terrified, and useless. And Michael, the youngest son, wayward since birth, the only Corleone son who resisted the ways of his father, finds himself drawn into the fray.
When Sollozzo sends word that he wants a truce, Michael is the only member of the Corleone family that Sollozzo trusts not to try to kill him. Together with a crooked Irish cop, Sollozzo arranges a meeting with Michael in a secure Italian restaurant. After smuggling a gun into the restaurant, Michael kills them both. The blood has barely dried on the bistro floor when Michael is put on a boat and shipped to Sicily for his safety.
Later, Sonny gets word that Carlo Rizzi, his sister’s husband, is beating her again. Sonny flies off in a fit and heads straight for their apartment, only to be ambushed and brutally murdered at a tollbooth. The Don, wishing there to be no more violence, calls for a meeting of the five families of New York. At the meeting, the Don requests that Michael be allowed to return safely to the United States. To ensure Michael’s safety, the Don accedes to the wishes of the other dons and agrees to use his political influence to protect the drug trade.
Meanwhile, in Sicily, Michael falls in love with and marries the beautiful Apollonia. Don Tommasino, charged with the protection of the young Corleone, warns him that his marriage has made his whereabouts known to his father’s enemies. Passionately in love, Michael ignores the warning, and a short while later an attempt is made on his life. The bomb meant for him kills Apollonia instead. When Michael regains consciousness, he tells Don Tommasino that he wishes to return home to be with his father and to ascend to the position that’s been waiting for him his entire life.
Back in America, Michael marries Kay Adams, his longtime girlfriend. He confesses to her that he’s now running his father’s empire and vows that within five years the enterprise will be completely legitimate. Before that can happen, however, he has a few loose ends to tie up.
Michael heads to Las Vegas and makes Moe Greene (a wayward member of the Mob) an offer he can’t refuse. Moe refuses and is ultimately killed.
Then the Don, joyful since his retirement from the “olive oil business,” dies of a heart attack while tending to his tomato garden, and although the death is sudden, Michael’s plan is already in motion and the Mob war begins.
Philip Tattaglia is murdered in a motel with his mistress, Don Barzini is killed by a hitman disguised as a cop, and Tessio, one of the Don’s most trusted caporegimes, is sniffed out as the rat and “taken for a drive.” Michael personally visits Carlo and says he knows he was responsible for Sonny’s murder. Carlo is strangled to death.
And just like that, with a series of swift and brutal moves, Michael Corleone rises to take over his father’s throne and to restore power and respect to the family.
But this, of course, was the last thing he ever wanted.
THE EXORCIST, William Peter Blatty, 1971
Chris MacNeil, divorced single mother and celebrated actress, moves to Washington, D.C., with her daughter, Regan, to finish her latest film. Regan soon grows bored and starts using a Ouija board to play with Captain Howdy, an imaginary friend who finds it amusing to move Regan’s furniture around and make things go bump in the night.
Regan’s father neglects to call her on her birthday, and Chris believes that’s the reason for Regan’s sudden shift in mood. Once curious and cheerful, Regan grows sullen, temperamental, and capable of some seriously salty language. Doctors believe she’s suffering from a strange form of epilepsy, with symptoms that include speaking in tongues, lifting the bed into the air, and feats of superhuman strength.
Unsatisfied with the diagnosis, Chris reaches out to Father Damien Karras, a handsome young priest who is dejected and full of doubt about his faith. Karras agrees to see Regan, but he warns Chris that the church does not easily hand out permission for exorcisms. He has to make an indisputable case for demonic possession.
When Karras first meets Regan, the child claims to be the devil, impersonates the voice of Burke Dennings—the film director that the demon threw out of Regan’s bedroom window to his death—speaks in the voice of Karras’s recently deceased mother, then covers him with a stream of projectile vomit. Karras, still unconvinced, decides to record the demon’s voice.
After studying the recording, Karras realizes the demon isn’t speaking an ancient language but is instead talking backward in English. The following day, he’s given the go-ahead by his superiors to begin the exorcism, and to assist him, the church sends Father Lankester Merrin, an elderly priest who has struggled with exorcisms before.
Merrin arrives immediately, prepares Karras, and sets about performing the exorcism. After three days of nonstop exorcising, the men are beset by emotional and physical fatigue. Merrin falls dead of an apparent heart attack, and Karras, enraged by the death of the priest, demands the demon leave Regan and take his body. The demon gladly accepts, and once Karras is fully possessed, he leaps through the window to his death.
JAWS, Peter Benchley, 1974
It’s mid-June, and the resort town of Amity is hoping for another prosperous summer catering to the beachgoers from the city when a young woman is killed by a shark attack during a late-night swim.
Police Chief Martin Brody meets with Harry Meadows, editor of the Amity-Leader, to issue the beach closure. Meadows insists that he will not run the story of the girl’s death, nor will he issue the beach closing. Meadows tells Brody that a number of local businesses have already demanded the Leader not run the story for fear of scaring off the tourists Amity so desperately needs.
After the tourists begin arriving, the shark soon attacks again, this time taking the life of a six-year-old boy. As Brody is hosting a press conference regarding the attack, another victim, a sixty-five-year-old man, is claimed.
The next day the Amity-Leader admits the three fatalities, including the first victim whose death went unreported. The mother of the young boy storms into Brody’s office and blames him for the death of her son. Brody, racked with guilt but sworn to secrecy, accepts full responsibility.
Brody and a fellow officer take a boat to visit Ben Gardner, a fisherman hired to track down the shark, only to find the boat deserted and damaged, with all signs pointing to Gardner’s being the fourth of the shark’s victims. Back at the police station, Meadows introduces Brody to Matt Hooper, a scientist from the oceanographic institute, and Brody realizes that the only way to return the town to normalcy is to kill the shark.
Brody learns of a shark hunter named Quint, and when Brody reaches out to him, Quint agrees to hunt the shark (for the right price, of course), with the help of Brody and Hooper.
Once they’re all on the boat, there is no sign of the shark. The second day is even quieter still, until the baited lines are snapped clean. The shark breaches near the boat, and the men try to harpoon it to no avail.
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p; The following day, Hooper brings a steel cage to the marina. At sea, they locate the shark and toss the empty cage into the water. The shark ignores the cage, and Hooper dives right in. The shark then attacks the cage head-on. The shark mangles the cage, squeezes his head inside, and kills Hooper with one vicious bite.
On the third day, Brody and Quint take to the sea by themselves and are immediately attacked by the shark. Quint manages to lodge two harpoons in the shark and tries to run the ropes through a winch in order to drag the shark. Instead, the shark launches itself onto the back of the boat. The boat begins to sink, and as the shark slips back into the water, the rope from the harpoons gets tangled around Quint and drags him down to his death.
The bow of the boat is almost vertical, and Brody grabs a cushion to keep himself afloat. As the boat sinks, the shark heads straight for Brody. Just as the shark is about to attack, the harpoons lodged in its massive body take their toll and the shark dies, mere feet away from Brody.
Brody plunges his head underwater, opens his eyes, and sees that the shark is kept from sinking by the barrels, and Quint’s body, still tethered to it, floats just above the shark. Satisfied that the shark is dead, Brody paddles for shore.
THE DEAD ZONE, Stephen King, 1979
Johnny Smith didn’t know he had acquired the ability to see the future when he hit his head on a frozen lake in the winter of 1953. And when he and his girlfriend, Sarah Bracknell, take in the carnival in the fall of 1970, he didn’t know he was seeing the future then, either, but he was. With his power, strange and uncontrollable, he wins over five hundred dollars on roulette that night at the carnival. It’s cause for celebration, except Sarah notices that something isn’t right with Johnny and it makes her ill. She blames it on a bad hot dog but needs to go home. Johnny, riding home alone in a cab, gets into a horrific wreck with a pair of drag racers and spends the next four and a half years in a coma.
Hit Lit: Cracking the Code of the Twentieth Century's Biggest Bestsellers Page 23
