Published: 1998, Simon and Schuster
Genre: Fiction
Themes: Mother and daughter relationship, betrayal, teens, friendship
My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤❤❤
This book will resonate with anyone who has ever dreamed of a perfect future where they find someone wonderful to love and then, in reality, end up pinning all their hopes on the back of the wrong person.
It is so easy to go forward blinkered by that sunlit mental image of a happy home and smiling partner, constantly making excuses for the reality seen by those nearest and dearest. Details are glossed over or mentally re-written, actions excused and everything adjusted just enough to keep the dream alive.
This is a story of broken dreams, manipulation and inappropriate relationships and how, so often, the people who cause the problems walk away and do not pay the emotional cost.
Isabelle has these dreams, but for the moment, she lives with her teenage daughter Amy in the smallest acceptable house in Shirley Falls, just clinging on to the right side of town. Appearances matter to Isabelle and everything she does is measured against the rod of other's people's opinion, to the point that worrying over possible mistakes keeps her awake at night. Isabelle's constant fear that the two of them may not quite measure up to the good people of the town makes Amy sad. Her mother has no social life and appears lonely and alone, with her anxieties etched deep into her pale and earnest face.
Isabelle has a secretarial job at the local mill and sees herself as slightly superior to the women who work in the general office. She is hoping that Amy will do well at school and then have the opportunity to train as a teacher and lead the sort of life that Isabelle really wants for herself. She originally moved to Shirley Falls to improve her prospects for finding a husband, and has still not entirely ruled that out, but the man she really wants is her married boss who has never shown a flicker of interest in her kindly attitude.
The story continues with Isabelle's internal struggles and it becomes clear that her over-cautious attitude has affected Amy self esteem and she finds it difficult to make friends at school. Amy is not the sort of girl who would ever be able to stand up for herself so she is vulnerable to manipulation and easily drawn into an inappropriate relationship.
Although Amy and Isabelle are the principal characters in the book, they interact with other women in ways that demonstrate shared experiences of love and loss regardless of social station. Very few men come off well in the story as most of them are out to take what they want, with little regard for the women they hurt along the way. The women eventually turn to one another for support and accept each other's differences.
This book was a debut novel for Elizabeth Strout and it comes as no surprise that she went on to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for a later work.
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