When Will There Be Good News 3

In this section, many different pieces of information come together. Dr. Hunter's first name is revealed, Joanna. This is when the reader makes the connection to the beginning of the story with the young girl whose mother and siblings died. Joanna is now in her thirties and the mystery of the killer is still unsolved. Louise is a detective that is trying to find more information on Mr. Hunter. Up until this point Neil Hunter has been a shady guy. We don't really hear about where he goes, all we know is that he gets back late every night. I am surprised that Joanna is such a kind well rounded person. Oftentimes when someone goes through something hard as a child, it never leaves them. A death could really scar a child's memory. On the outside Joanna seems like she has a perfect life. When Louise pays a visit to the Hunter's house she wonders why Joanna is married to a guy like Neil, "Just what the lovely Dr. Hunter was doing being married to someone with business interests in the public triangle of Bread Street, with its strip joints, dodgy pubs and show bars, was any one's guess. Shouldn't she be married to somebody more respectable -- and orthopedic surgeon, for example"(71). This is when we learn that Mr. Hunter is up to no good wherever he works. It also brings up the question of why Joanna and Neil are married. They seems like totally different people. This fact starts to make one wonder that maybe there is something different behind Joanna Hunter, maybe there is something that the reader doesn't know.

Later in the section that I read, Reggie is on her way home when she is confronted by someone. She feels a hand grip the back of her neck and something jabbed into her lower back a man then whispered, "Don't make a sound, I've got a gun"(81). When she turns around she sees her brother with a grin on his face. This is only one example of how violent her brother is. He seems to always be into trouble. Although her brother, Billy is nineteen, three years older than Reggie, she still feels the need to look after her brother. Reggie is very embarrassed of her brother, Billy. "Reggie worried that one day Billy would drive by Dr. Hunter's house and offer Reggie a lift home and she would have to introduce him to Dr. Hunter. She could just imagine how this pinched, ferrety features would light up at the sight of all the lovely things in the Hunter's home. . . Reggie thought she would have to deny him. ("He's not my brother. I don't know who he is.")"(83). From this quote, one can tell that Reggie and her brother don't have a very good relationship. Reggie is ashamed of her brother and doesn't trust him. If Reggie would go so far as to pretend to not know her brother! I think there is more to Billy, there must be a bigger reason for Reggie's mistrust.

When Will There Be Good News 2

This next section cuts to a whole new story. A man named Jackson is sitting in his car lost in the middle of nowhere. "He was alone. Not another car in sight. no tractors or Land rovers, no other drifters on the high plains, no fellow travelers at all. No farmhouses or sheep barns either, only grass and barren limestone and a dead December sky. He was on the road to nowhere"(52). When one can get alone time memories usually come back. This quote is describing how alone he is. He could see nothing. The author does a very good job of describing what the setting looks like, after reading this passage I could really imagine the emptiness. This emptiness makes the reader start to wonder what Jackson is doing the in middle of nowhere. As he sits there he thinks back about his past life because he has nothing better to do. First it flashes back to his ex-wife Josie. Then later he drifts to thinking about his daughter, Marlee. This section really tells the reader a lot about the character Jackson. His memories are mostly about his old life and family so one can tell that his family means a lot to him.
Later in this section a figure appears in the distance, which seems crazy because earlier the author describes the emptiness of where Jackson is. When a human appears is says, "There was someone else ahead, on foot, walking towards him. The sight was so unexpected that for a moment he wondered if it was a kind of mirage brought on by staring for too long at the road, but no, it wasn't a phantom, it was definitely a human being, a woman even"(57). This sight is so unexpected he thinks its almost a miracle. Jackson is lost and when he sees a person it surprises him. This again makes the reader wonder why he is in the middle of nowhere. The book then goes on to describe Jackson, "He was a man on the road, a man trying to get home. It was about the destination, not the journey. Everyone was trying to get home. Everyone, everywhere, all the time"(59). This quote describes Jackson as a man trying to get home. This implies that he is looking for a place to be, a home to live at, most likely a family.

When Will There Be Good News

In the beginning of this book, Johanna and her family are walking home when suddenly a strange man appears and stabs her mother, brother and sister. Johanna is the only one that survives because she runs into the corn fields. Then the book shifts to a whole new scene. Reggie, a sixteen year old girl who's mother died many years ago, Nanny's for Dr. Hunter. While Dr. Hunter is at work, Reggie watches her son. Judging from the beginning of the book, I think that it will jump around a lot and move from different scenes very fast. I think that in the end of the book, these two stories will intertwine. Reggie dropped out of school this year and now Dr. Hunter tutors her. Dr. Hunter asks Reggie, "Shouldn't you have stayed on at school, Reggie"(44)? and Reggie replies, "Yes, I should have"(44). Dr. Hunter is implying that it would have been better if Reggie had stayed in school, then Reggie agrees with her. I think that Reggie is happier with Dr. Hunter than at school. With her mother gone, Reggie believed that there was no point in going to school, "Mum had been so proud when Reggie got her scholarship place, but once she was gone, there didn't seem much point, and it was bad enough leaving for school in the morning with no one to say good-bye to her, but coming home to an empty house with no one to say hello was even worse"(30). This quote is a glimpse at what Reggie's life was like before she started working for Dr. Hunter. It also shows how hard it is to live without anyone, living alone. I think that its a good thing that Reggie quit school. She is still learning the material, she is just in a happier environment.

Dr. Hunter is a very intelligent character. One can realize this because of all of the books in her house and how she speaks. Dr. Hunter is always referring back to books she has read in the past. She tells Reggie that she has read every book there is to read. Also, Dr. Hunter is always giving Reggie good advice. She says, "Knowing that when light is gone, love remains for shining"(50). This quote is very interesting. When Dr. Hunter says this I believe that she is trying to give Reggie advice and knowledge. I think Dr. Hunter knows that Reggie has a hard life and she is trying to tell her that even though things may look hard, she will always love her. The reader is never informed about how Reggie's mother died. This makes me want to keep reading to find out. One day Reggie randomly asks Dr. Hunter, " How long does it take to die from drowning"(46)? This makes me think that Reggie's mother died from drowning. Reggie doesn't bring up how her mother died again. I this this book is really good and I am interested in what will happen.


Atkinson, Kate. When Will There Be Good News? Boston: Little Brown & Company, 2008.