Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler

Now that I have read all the Elizabeth Strout novels I could lay my hands on, I am really glad to have a good number of books by Anne Tyler still stretching out before me. There is a real art to writing about daily family life, even though it is something we have all experienced. An author with an eye for tiny details can bring a home to life and Anne Tyler has that skill in spades.

Anyone who has been married for any length of time must have had days when they just pondered the possibility of just walking away one day without looking back, and this book is a story a wife and mother who did just that.

Delia Grinstead had been married to Sam since she left high school, and they produced three children who were now all reaching the age when they were preparing to fly the nest and make lives of their own. Delia's father was a family doctor when he employed Sam to come and work with him as a second doctor in his practice, and it wasn't long before Sam began to consider marrying one of Dr Grinstead's three daughters. Delia was the youngest, and over a decade younger than Sam, but when they married she was happy to stay in her father's house with her new husband and work on the reception for both of them.

Every year, the Grinsteads and their extended family took a holiday at the same place by the sea and one sunny day Delia took off for a walk on her own after a minor disagreement with Sam. She starts out with every intention of coming back, but when she is almost back with the family group, she turns away before they see her. From then on, things just 'happen' and she ends up many miles away from where she should be. She could have just phoned to get a lift back, but in the end she decides not to, and before she knows it she has begun a different life in a place where nobody knows her.

The whole book is an examination of separation. Delia is separated from her husband and family, and the people she meets in her new life are also mostly single or struggling with relationships, and no-one is quite living life in a way that makes them happy. Maybe that perfect relationship is just a dream, but many have to go through a few bad choices before realising that everyone 'settles' in one way or another.

The book is long enough to get fully emersed in, and all the characters are complex and imperfect as they would be in anyone's family. You can't choose your family, and very often you can't change the way they behave either, but maybe there are ways to come to terms with them and make the best of what you've got.

Comments

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