From Publishers Weekly
Willett (
Echoes of the Dance) gives us a domestic novel of quiet yearning, haunting memories and onerous guilt, oscillating between the present of 2004 and the late 1970s, when bighearted mom Julia welcomed her pregnant, widowed best friend Tiggy into her home to live. With lush descriptions of pastoral Cornwall as a backdrop, Willett explores the life of naval wives Julia and Julia's Aunt Em, daughter-in-law Caroline and nemesis Angela, each of whom spend much time waiting for her husband to return. Julia and her daughter, Liv, grapple with echoes of their former lives: for Julia, it's the specter of her husband's infidelity, in the form of Angela; for Liv, it's the one that got away, in the form of unhappily but intractably married co-worker Chris. And that's hardly all; Willett piles on the conflicts and tragedies, overloading her suffering characters. The women are largely faultless and sweet—particularly the insouciant, lovely Liv—which undermines their well-earned gravitas. Still, Angela makes a delicious antagonist, and the friendships at the novel's heart—especially the tender relationship between Julia and Tiggy—are believable and warming.
(Apr.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
On a cold winter day in 1976, unmarried and pregnant, Tiggy packs up her camper van and drives west to the Cornwall moors to live with her friend Julia. Tiggy’s fiancé recently died, and Julia, alone with her kids while her husband is at sea, gladly accepts Tiggy as her houseguest. Life is chaotic with the two women, two dogs, and Julia’s three children, but for Tiggy, with no family and a growing belly, it’s a haven. But there’s something sinister lurking under the idyllic days on the moor, and years later, Julia, having buried the memories as best she can, finds herself watching her children make mistakes that could expose family secrets about Julia, Tiggy, and her visit so long ago. How can Julia protect and guide her family but still stay true to Tiggy? The always captivating Willett (Echoes of the Dance, 2007) accurately traces the tangled threads of family relations and the complications in untying them, understanding that sometimes it’s wiser to tie them tighter. --Hilary Hatton
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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