The Way We Were: A Novel [Paperback]

Marcia Willett (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2010

It was in the middle of a snowstorm when Tiggy arrived at the remote house on Bodmin Moor. She was alone, her partner tragically dead in an accident. Julia, her dearest friend, welcomed her into her warm and chaotic family. Tiggy started to live again and look forward to the birth of her child. But nearly thirty years later, when her son is about to become a father himself, the next generation discovers that there are secrets from the past that still live on...

Editorial Reviews

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.

From Booklist

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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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; First Edition edition (January 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312382898
• ISBN-13: 978-0312382896
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #977,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Richly Drawn Characters and Intriguing Storyline Make This a Favorite, May 30, 2009

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Way We Were: A Novel (Hardcover)

Marcia Willett, with her special talent for not only creating compassionate female characters but also depicting the English countryside, gives readers one of her best stories to date in THE WAY WE WERE.

Julia and Tiggy are such fully developed characters that I was extremely sad to bid them farewell. Their story, heartwarming and heart wrenching, begins with Tiggy, alone and pregnant after the accidental death of her boyfriend, coming to Julia for support. It is remarkable in its emotional pull and its reaffirmation that family is sometimes determined by more than bloodlines. Their special friendship manifests itself in a most surprising way as Tiggy gives birth to a son who will unite the two friends in a stronger way than they ever planned. Weaving between 1976 and 2004, this multi-generational tale is Willett at her best, exploring the devotion of friends, romantic pairings, and choices that have rippling effects for years into the future.

Willett also gives us two of her most despicable antagonists in the diabolical Angela and her equally loathsome daughter Cat. Balancing them out is Liv, Julia's effervescent daughter, who grows into a loving woman with an admirable moral compass.

Fans of cozy English novels will be charmed by this one and no doubt hope to see some of these characters resurface in a later novel, as Willett has a delightful penchant for doing this very thing.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just a good light read, July 5, 2009

By 

Eileen (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Way We Were: A Novel (Hardcover)

I loved it, it takes a story that has sad elements and makes it happy..I read alot, and don't like depressing stories..I don't want to close the book and be depressed...it was just a great book...i intend to read other books by this author.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars epic family drama, April 17, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Way We Were: A Novel (Hardcover)

In the late 1970s in Cornwall, England, pregnant Tiggy, still grieving the loss of the father of her unborn, arrives at the home of her best friend Julia. Kindhearted naval wife, Julia takes her pal into her home where she already raises three children while her spouse is mostly at sea as a naval officer. After Tiggy gives birth, she and her son Zack remain in Julia's home as part of the extended family.

In 2004, as Zack waits for the birth of his first offspring, Julia looks back on her life. She still is irate with her husband for his affair with her enemy Angela while Tiggy tries to help her move on. Meanwhile Julia worries about her daughter Liv pining and whining how she left the love of her life marry someone else.

This epic family drama looks deep into the friendship between two women who are always there but especially help each other through traumatic situations; of which there is a ton. The story line gracefully moves through the three decades highlighting major events and enabling the reader to understand the prime players. However, the women are female Jobs suffering from so many traumas that none of the cast members come across as fully real.

Harriet Klausner