New Hippler novel an enthralling sequel
Andrea Green
The new book by Richland
author L.J. Hippler, The New
Road, brings us back to the
Baltimore area for the next installment
of the Miller family drama. It’s
10 years after the events in Cathedral
Street, and young Michelle
Miller (now Ibanez) has matured
into a respected lawyer with a
budding law practice.
Michelle’s life is on the upswing;
with her lovely new home, her handsome
husband and her adoring toddler
son. It looks like things can only get
better...until she’s handed a brown
folder containing the innocuoussounding
House Bill 1664. Even though
she’s blessed with amazing strength of
character from the grandmother she
never knew, Michelle’s courage and
determination will be tested almost
beyond her limits as she readies for
the fight of her life.
A new road should bring new
beginnings, but as Michelle learns, for
the residents of Canton the thoroughfare
interchange proposed by House
Bill 1664 spells nothing less than the
total destruction of their historic
neighborhood. A pork-barrel project
pushed through by a self-serving
politician, HB 1664 is nearly unstoppable.
With few allies and little clout
behind her, Michelle’s only chance of
stopping the new road is to rely on
herself and her unswerving moral
compass.
The bill’s master architect, selfserving
politician Sam Sampson, is a
man with no compunction for fighting
dirty. Sampson’s plans for the interchange
are nothing less than a monument
to his own overblown ego.
Determined to ensure the success of
his vision whatever the cost, Sampson
institutes a scorched-earth policy
against Michelle, starting with her
father, Buddy.
Since we last saw him “Captain of
Industry” Buddy Miller has become
older and a little worse for wear. His
position in life is finally secure and
stable, thanks to hard work and a good
turn or two in the stock market. But,
between his strained relationship with
his daughter ,Michelle, and his new
love interest who is scarcely older than
his daughter, Buddy’s got his hands
full. His vigor is starting to fade. But
what’s really bothering him is those
long nights when the face that stares
back at him from the mirror, dark and
full of rage, belongs not to him but to
his own despicable father.
Meanwhile, Father Jerry, the eldest
of the original Miller brothers, has
grown too accustomed to comfortable
surroundings. Moving away from the
neighborhood he’s known so long,
Father Jerry’s new parish provides
some unexpected challenges. The rundown
chapel is dirty and hopeless,
much like the migrant farm workers
who are his parishioners. But Father
Jerry has been in hopeless places
before, and although his fight might
look different than the one Michelle is
waging, he’s not willing to leave things
as they are.
With her days and nights consumed
by her fight against Sampson and his
interchange, Michelle feels her onceperfect
life beginning to slip away as
she comes to understand the sacrifices
her determination may demand of
her. She’s barely able to speak to the
father she once doted on. With her
small law practice overwhelmed (and
unpaid) due to her fight against House
Bill 1664, long days spent away from
her toddler son, and mounting evidence
pointing toward her husband’s infidelity,
Michelle comes to realize that campaigning
to protect something larger
than herself may cost her everything
she holds dear. As Sampson’s goons
prepare to take the fight to the next
level, Michelle discovers that the real
threat to her marriage may come from
an unexpected corner.
Like L.J. Hippler’s enthralling debut
novel, Cathedral Street, this offering is
a gripping, suspenseful treat. The New
Road delivers a strong, incredibly wellwritten
narrative that’s simply addictive.
Whether you’re familiar with the
original novel or not, it’s thrilling to
watch Michelle come into her own in
this novel. A third installment of the
Miller family saga is currently under
way, and I’ll be keeping my eyes out to
see where Michelle goes from here.
The New Road and Cathedral Street
are available from your local bookseller
and online at Amazon.com and
BN.com.
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