Hamilton, Jane. When Madeline Was Young.(Brief article)(Book review)

Hamilton, Jane. When Madeline Was Young. Doubleday. Sept. 2006. c.288p. ISBN 0-385-51671-1 [ISBN 978-0-385-51671-6]. $22.95. F

As in her previous novels (e.g., A Map of the World), Hamilton sets her latest work in her native Midwest. Pragmatic, smart, and sensitive Timothy "Mac" Maciver, a married physician with three daughters, tells the story of his family and upbringing in suburban Chicago and how a tragedy that disrupted his father's first marriage impacted all their lives. Mac's first-person narrative moves back and forth in time and highlights his parents' relationship as well as his own relationship with Madeline, the woman known as his much older "sister," …