(orion, $34.99)
We think we know the ones we love. Our husbands, our wives, begins The Story of a Marriage. Turns out, we sometimes know diddly. Such is the case for Pearlie, a dutiful housewife living in 1950s San Francisco with her irresistibly handsome husband Holland and their adored son.
Pearlie does more than most to keep her household running on an even keel, including cutting out troubling stories from the newspaper to protect her husband’s faulty heart. Then one morning, a charming stranger appears on Pearlie’s doorstep and everything she felt so happy and secure about, especially her husband, is suddenly not such a safe bet. Turns out his heart is not faulty in the way she previously imagined. Secrets tumble out in this fabulous read by Andrew Sean Greer.
It’s not a big book and, in a way, it’s sort of gentle but at the same time powerful. One reviewer likened it to a slow-simmering sauce and that’s a good description. It definitely simmers.
Set in a period where one war is just over but another still rages in Korea, it’s a powerful snapshot of the time and the climate it created. In 1953, being any sort of different was a battle. The Story of a Marriage sensitively examines the sort of complicated relationships that resulted and the lengths to which people would go to protect them. Mr reject them. Highly recommended.
On an entirely different note, but also highly recommended, is The Maeve Binchy Writers’ Club. Maeve is an Irish novelist who has sold millions of books around the world and continues to do so. A couple of years ago, she was involved in a course for would-be writers where she contributed a weekly letter and various distinguished people gave talks on different aspects of writing. Those letters and talks became this book, an inspirational guide for anyone who has thought about writing but doesn’t quite know how to start, let alone finish.
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