In a historic farmhouse outside Boston, seventy-year-old Percy Darling is settling happily into retirement: reading novels, watching old movies, and swimming naked in his pond. His routines are disrupted, however, when he is persuaded to let a locally beloved preschool take over his barn. As Percy sees his rural refuge overrun by children, parents, and teachers, he must reexamine the solitary life he has made in the three decades since the sudden death of his wife. No longer can he remain aloof from his community, his two grown daughters, or, to his shock, the precarious joy of falling in love.
One relationship Percy treasures is the bond with his oldest grandchild, Robert, a premed student at Harvard. Robert has long assumed he will follow in the footsteps of his mother, a prominent physician, but he begins to question his ambitions when confronted by a charismatic roommate who preaches—and begins to practice—an extreme form of ecological activism, targeting Boston’s most affluent suburbs.
Meanwhile, two other men become fatefully involved with Percy and Robert: Ira, a gay teacher at the preschool, and Celestino, a Guatemalan gardener who works for Percy’s neighbor, each one striving to overcome a sense of personal exile. Choices made by all four men, as well as by the women around them, collide forcefully on one lovely spring evening, upending everyone’s lives, but none more radically than Percy’s.
With equal parts affection and satire, Julia Glass spins a captivating tale about the loyalties, rivalries, and secrets of a very particular family. Yet again, she plumbs the human heart brilliantly, dramatically, and movingly.
The Widower's Tale
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Percy Darling, 70, the narrator of Glass's fourth novel, takes comfort in certitudes: he will never leave his historic suburban Boston house, he is done with love (still guilty about his wife's death 30 years ago), and his beloved grandson Robert, a Harvard senior, will do credit to the family name. But Glass (Three Junes) spins a beautifully paced, keenly observed story in which certainties give way to surprising reversals of fortune. Percy is an opinionated, cantankerous, newly retired Harvard librarian and nobody's "darling," who decides to lease his barn to a local preschool, mainly to give his daughter Clover, who has abandoned her husband and children in New York, a job. Percy's other daughter is a workaholic oncologist in Boston who becomes important to a young mother at the school with whom Percy, to his vast surprise, establishes a romantic relationship. Meanwhile, Percy's grandson, Robert, falls in with an ecoterrorist group. Glass handles the coalescing plot elements with astute insights into the complexity of family relationships, the gulf between social classes, and our modern culture of excess to create a dramatic, thought-provoking, and immensely satisfying novel.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Bookmarks Magazine
In The Widower's Tale, Glass continues to explore the intricate ties of family and friendship that have become her trademark. Some critics felt the novel was just as evocative, timely, and emotionally gratifying as Three Junes, and they enjoyed the novel's different voices and timely issues. Others, however, couldn't get past the inauthentic dialogue and overuse of clichés, such as the droll gay couple who also love whipping up gourmet cuisine. Additionally, several reviewers felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of issues introduced, from health insurance and gay rights to illegal immigration and ecoterrorism, and felt that Glass may have better succeeded at examining just a few of these more deeply. To sum it up, perhaps a trip to the public library may be a less risky venture than a hardcover purchase.
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91 of 94 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
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Julia Glass' fourth novel, "The Widower's Tale" is another work rich with the complexities of everyday life. It is a lovely story full of remarkable and fascinating characters. It will please the author's many fans, but it will most likely not have wide popular appeal or significant literary praise.
The book focuses on the lives of four men: Percy, Robert, Celestino, and Ira. The book's chapters are alternately told from the viewpoints of each of these four characters, although only Percy Darling is given the honor of having his story told in the first person. Percy is the widower of the book's title. He is an eccentric retired Harvard librarian. He is fiercely independent and physically robust. Percy is an intellectual with a keen mind and a warm heart. He is the patriarch of a fascinating family consisting of two daughters, two sons-in-law, and three grandchildren.
The second main character is Robert, Percy's grandson. He is a premed student at Harvard who becomes close friends with his college roommate, Arturo. Robert is the admirable young man that almost any parent would be proud of having raised. Unfortunately, through Arturo, Robert is drawn into a world of college-prank-style acts of local eco-terrorism.
The third main character is Ira, a teacher working in the preschool that is located in the barn behind Percy's home. Ira's partner, Antony, is a successful divorce lawyer helping Percy's daughter with a custody battle. Both men become close friends of Percy and his family.
The fourth main character is Celestino, an illegal Guatemalan immigrant working as a gardener for Percy's next-door neighbor. Percy, Robert, and Ira each become good friends with Celestino. Ultimately, it is Celestino's story that upstages Percy's and steals the reader's heart.
During the course of the novel, each of these four characters must chart his course through a major personal crisis. Many of the secondary characters also navigate their own crises. The less I tell you about those crises the better, because they are the thin thread of a plot that holds the whole together. In the end, all the crises intersect in vivid display demonstrating the interconnectedness of life.
The subtle theme of the novel is that web of life. The author reminds us that as we navigate the shoals of our personal lives, we must all bear responsibility not only for how the web of life intersects with our own unique close family and friends, but also with the wider world, and ultimately with the planet itself.
Personally, it was a marvelous pleasure to read this novel -- to once again have the joy of getting to know a whole new group of captivating characters made real through the literary artistry of Julia Glass. Through the clutter of many characters and many crises, the novel overflowed with a magnificent richness. Unfortunately, there was no tension in the plot that pulled the reader through the whole. Reading this book felt just like living everyday life alongside these people. It was a joy for me, but I am sure that many may find this type of storytelling unsatisfying. Julia Glass' first novel was a National-Book-Award-winning success. It also wove many characters and many crises into a magnificent richness. Perhaps, what that novel had, that this novel and her last two novels lacked, is a central main character that stands out above all the rest. In "Three Junes" that character was Fenno McLeod. He was the central altarpiece of Glass' magnificent literary triptych. I will never forget Fenno McLeod, but I will no doubt soon forget all the lovely characters that inhabit this splendid novel.
Definitely read this book if you are a Julia Glass fan. If you've never read Julia Glass before, start with her masterpiece, "Three Junes."
The book focuses on the lives of four men: Percy, Robert, Celestino, and Ira. The book's chapters are alternately told from the viewpoints of each of these four characters, although only Percy Darling is given the honor of having his story told in the first person. Percy is the widower of the book's title. He is an eccentric retired Harvard librarian. He is fiercely independent and physically robust. Percy is an intellectual with a keen mind and a warm heart. He is the patriarch of a fascinating family consisting of two daughters, two sons-in-law, and three grandchildren.
The second main character is Robert, Percy's grandson. He is a premed student at Harvard who becomes close friends with his college roommate, Arturo. Robert is the admirable young man that almost any parent would be proud of having raised. Unfortunately, through Arturo, Robert is drawn into a world of college-prank-style acts of local eco-terrorism.
The third main character is Ira, a teacher working in the preschool that is located in the barn behind Percy's home. Ira's partner, Antony, is a successful divorce lawyer helping Percy's daughter with a custody battle. Both men become close friends of Percy and his family.
The fourth main character is Celestino, an illegal Guatemalan immigrant working as a gardener for Percy's next-door neighbor. Percy, Robert, and Ira each become good friends with Celestino. Ultimately, it is Celestino's story that upstages Percy's and steals the reader's heart.
During the course of the novel, each of these four characters must chart his course through a major personal crisis. Many of the secondary characters also navigate their own crises. The less I tell you about those crises the better, because they are the thin thread of a plot that holds the whole together. In the end, all the crises intersect in vivid display demonstrating the interconnectedness of life.
The subtle theme of the novel is that web of life. The author reminds us that as we navigate the shoals of our personal lives, we must all bear responsibility not only for how the web of life intersects with our own unique close family and friends, but also with the wider world, and ultimately with the planet itself.
Personally, it was a marvelous pleasure to read this novel -- to once again have the joy of getting to know a whole new group of captivating characters made real through the literary artistry of Julia Glass. Through the clutter of many characters and many crises, the novel overflowed with a magnificent richness. Unfortunately, there was no tension in the plot that pulled the reader through the whole. Reading this book felt just like living everyday life alongside these people. It was a joy for me, but I am sure that many may find this type of storytelling unsatisfying. Julia Glass' first novel was a National-Book-Award-winning success. It also wove many characters and many crises into a magnificent richness. Perhaps, what that novel had, that this novel and her last two novels lacked, is a central main character that stands out above all the rest. In "Three Junes" that character was Fenno McLeod. He was the central altarpiece of Glass' magnificent literary triptych. I will never forget Fenno McLeod, but I will no doubt soon forget all the lovely characters that inhabit this splendid novel.
Definitely read this book if you are a Julia Glass fan. If you've never read Julia Glass before, start with her masterpiece, "Three Junes."
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
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Wow, this book was an incredible treat! Julia Glass gifts her readers with a stunning tale, a tale that encompasses multigenerational relationships, love and self-forgiveness, family loyalty and betrayal, the meaning of parenthood, and the intricate web of human connections.
Percy Darling - a 70-year-old retired librarian with an offbeat wit and courtly manners - is at the vortex of this novel, the only character that narrates from the first-person perspective. He has spent years in self-inflicted soltitude following the senseless and inadvertent death of his wife three decades earlier. After making an uncharacteristic choice - allowing his barn to become a preschool to help his rootless older daughter - his solitary life becomes dramatically transformed.
Gradually, this trustafarian finds his world turned upside down as he falls for a younger woman with a young adopted son named Rico. A sudden complication in that relationship will emotionally test him in ways that he would never have dreamt possible. To add insult to injury, his beloved grandson, Robert - a Harvard pre-med student - becomes involved in an eco-activism movement that will shake his complacency even more.
The characters that Julia Glass creates - including a Guatemalan landscaper, a gay preschool teacher and his divorce attorney partner, and Percy Darling's two very opposite daughters - come alive so eloquently that they could literally walk off the pages. This book examines not only one's responsibility to oneself, but to one's family and to society at large by shining its laser beam onto the haves-and-have-nots in affluent New England and the costs and rewards of opening up to others.
I loved this richly-layered and beautifully-rendered book. I cared about the very original cast of characters and the emotional and social issues they confront. Kudos to Ms. Glass for a totally absorbing read!
Percy Darling - a 70-year-old retired librarian with an offbeat wit and courtly manners - is at the vortex of this novel, the only character that narrates from the first-person perspective. He has spent years in self-inflicted soltitude following the senseless and inadvertent death of his wife three decades earlier. After making an uncharacteristic choice - allowing his barn to become a preschool to help his rootless older daughter - his solitary life becomes dramatically transformed.
Gradually, this trustafarian finds his world turned upside down as he falls for a younger woman with a young adopted son named Rico. A sudden complication in that relationship will emotionally test him in ways that he would never have dreamt possible. To add insult to injury, his beloved grandson, Robert - a Harvard pre-med student - becomes involved in an eco-activism movement that will shake his complacency even more.
The characters that Julia Glass creates - including a Guatemalan landscaper, a gay preschool teacher and his divorce attorney partner, and Percy Darling's two very opposite daughters - come alive so eloquently that they could literally walk off the pages. This book examines not only one's responsibility to oneself, but to one's family and to society at large by shining its laser beam onto the haves-and-have-nots in affluent New England and the costs and rewards of opening up to others.
I loved this richly-layered and beautifully-rendered book. I cared about the very original cast of characters and the emotional and social issues they confront. Kudos to Ms. Glass for a totally absorbing read!
46 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Books in which an author espouses their own thinly veiled political philosophy and opinions by placing them in the mouths of their characters usually have a negative effect on me especially when the comments have absolutely nothing to do with advancing the storyline. The Widowers Tale by Julia Glass, is a classic illustration of this with its slyly placed comments such as "It's a stodgy place - practically Republican", or "We'd have seen none of this infernal mess if we hadn't elected that Mafia puppet Jack Kennedy to the White House", or "As Barack Obama is showing us all these days, it's time to inspire patriotism in our youngest citizens".
Hidden agendas and intellectual snobbery aside, I willingly admit that I did enjoy most of this excursion into the life of septuagenarian Percy Darling, his two grown daughters, his grandson, his unexpected love interest as well as the assorted peripheral acquaintances, friends, and neighbors that populate this richly layered and memorable novel about friendship, family secrets and the strange twists of fate that shape our lives. The story takes place over the course of one year and manages to squeeze in every topic from gay marriage and ecological activism (read eco-terrorism if you are more moderate than liberal) to the plight of both the uninsured and the undocumented. Many of Glass's characters appear to be victims of some sort of personal exile and while some storylines are more well developed than others and add to the readers enjoyment and understanding, others like that of the Guatemalan gardener, Celestino, appear to be more gratuitous than necessary to the advancement of the narrative. Additionally, if insecurity and desperation were traits that made each of us more attractive then there are certain characters in this book that would absolutely brim with beauty.
Finally, this book affected me in much the same way as Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed. In both instances I entered into my reading experience with high hopes. Sadly, both authors were so intent on utilizing one book to cover every aspect of what they perceive as `the problems confronting the world' that they overwhelmed their readers with TMI (too much information) and TMPPI (too many personal political insights). Both writers would have been well served if they had resisted this urge and reined in the dimension and aspects of their respective tomes.
Hidden agendas and intellectual snobbery aside, I willingly admit that I did enjoy most of this excursion into the life of septuagenarian Percy Darling, his two grown daughters, his grandson, his unexpected love interest as well as the assorted peripheral acquaintances, friends, and neighbors that populate this richly layered and memorable novel about friendship, family secrets and the strange twists of fate that shape our lives. The story takes place over the course of one year and manages to squeeze in every topic from gay marriage and ecological activism (read eco-terrorism if you are more moderate than liberal) to the plight of both the uninsured and the undocumented. Many of Glass's characters appear to be victims of some sort of personal exile and while some storylines are more well developed than others and add to the readers enjoyment and understanding, others like that of the Guatemalan gardener, Celestino, appear to be more gratuitous than necessary to the advancement of the narrative. Additionally, if insecurity and desperation were traits that made each of us more attractive then there are certain characters in this book that would absolutely brim with beauty.
Finally, this book affected me in much the same way as Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed. In both instances I entered into my reading experience with high hopes. Sadly, both authors were so intent on utilizing one book to cover every aspect of what they perceive as `the problems confronting the world' that they overwhelmed their readers with TMI (too much information) and TMPPI (too many personal political insights). Both writers would have been well served if they had resisted this urge and reined in the dimension and aspects of their respective tomes.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
The book review Eisenhower's tale.
Enjoyed the book, but it was boring at times. I did not understand the need for the use of French. The end left me hanging, and I wanted to know what actually happened in the... Read more
Published 5 days ago by Betty
2.0 out of 5 stars
Predictable
I felt that I was reading a Creative Writing assignment that was meeting the prescribed protocols of plot and story. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Michael D. McCoy
4.0 out of 5 stars
Read all about Percy Darling!!!
Need more characters like Percy Darling! Percy has a quiet existence since his wife has passed. I think he really likes his solitary life. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Tonya Speelman
4.0 out of 5 stars
I love Julia!
I was so happy to find that she had written this novel. Was not aware and just kind of "came across it" - I love her writing style and she touches my heart.
Published 1 month ago by Mary F Mahaffey
5.0 out of 5 stars
Smart tale touching on many social issues.
I liked the variety of characters and the perspective from a smart aging male chararter.
This fiction book had many things I liked; architectural interests, optimistic... Read more
This fiction book had many things I liked; architectural interests, optimistic... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Jan Best
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE novel to read
Chosen at random, I was beyond pleasantly surprised. Better then "well written"; authored by someone who knows the English language and knows how to write. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Sarah Lenihan
4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting study of relationships and how they affect the outcome...
Very interesting story. Extremely well written. Could really identify with Percy, his house, lake etc. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Anne O'Sullivan
5.0 out of 5 stars
What great characters and depth in relationships
This vook is one of my favorites. Each character develope across the novel's timeline as complex as many family relationships do. Read more
Published 4 months ago by D M McIntyre
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Wonderful Read
Julia Glass's fourth novel is a charming, richly plotted book that chronicles the lives of 70-year-old Percy Darling and his daughters Clover and Trudy, along with their extended... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Martha E. Pollack
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best things that came out of book club
My book group read another title by Julia Glass and that led me to read all of her books--and wish she would publish another already! Read more
Published 4 months ago by NYC Mom
