SOURCE: Murphy, Bernadette. “A Facile, Feel-Good Tale of Tangled Relationships.” Los Angeles Times (9 July 2002): E3.

In the following review, Murphy comments that Girl from the South ultimately fails to address the complexities of human relationships.

“Chick flick” is the term, often used pejoratively, to describe those films that attract a predominantly female audience. Typically told from a woman's perspective, these films tend to highlight relationships over plot-driven action, use either internal monologues or heart-to-heart conversations to reveal motivations and portray character development and often include some kind of tear-inducing scene as a cathartic release. Certain books follow this same model. Joanna Trollope's Girl from the South treads this feminine territory with a degree of lyricism, energetic writing and sharp imagery. However, the novel doesn't address the deepest complexities at the heart of human relationships.

Gillon Stokes is the title's girl from the South, a nearly 30-year-old woman in...