Where before there was no one, suddenly I, Margaret Riley, have a neighborI went out on the back deck this morning like every morning, and there she was. Across the pond, sitting on her own back deck. I was startled. That house has been empty a long time. My first impulse was to go back inside, as if I'd come upon something shameful, or embarrassed myself. As if I were out there naked...
Description:
Lately I seem be fluctuating in my reading choices between violent thrillers like Life or Death and Nobody Walks and then gentle tales of people living quietly in small towns (Juliet in August and Our Souls at Night). Then I stumbled on Leah Stewart's The New Neighbor.
Not exactly a thriller, this is definitely a mystery with a hint of violence lurking behind the lives of two women carefully guarding their secret pasts while living in isolated homes in the mountains of Tennessee. Margaret, a 90-year-old World War I nurse is content with her self-chosen solitary life, but becomes intrigued when Jennifer and her four-year-old son Milo appear on the deck of the cottage across the lake. These two women shyly take days to even wave to each other, but is it really shyness or does each have a strong sense of protectiveness?
Margaret, a devoted reader of mysteries, wants to know about Jennifer and sets about trying to contact her, probing about for her secrets. Eventually, Margaret persuades her new neighbor to record Margaret's memories of her War experiences as a nurse in France, hoping that by opening up herself that Jennifer will also reveal her past. But nothing gets her neighbor to speak up. So Margaret pushes harder at boundaries to dig out information. And then she steps over a line.
Chapters are narrated alternately between each woman, so we readers soon start to piece together Jennifer's (and Margaret's) secrets long before they are revealed to each other. There is sadness in both of their stories, hints of great loss, and also the possibilities that these women had roles in their own fates and those of others close to them.
Not exactly a thriller, this is definitely a mystery with a hint of violence lurking behind the lives of two women carefully guarding their secret pasts while living in isolated homes in the mountains of Tennessee. Margaret, a 90-year-old World War I nurse is content with her self-chosen solitary life, but becomes intrigued when Jennifer and her four-year-old son Milo appear on the deck of the cottage across the lake. These two women shyly take days to even wave to each other, but is it really shyness or does each have a strong sense of protectiveness?
Margaret, a devoted reader of mysteries, wants to know about Jennifer and sets about trying to contact her, probing about for her secrets. Eventually, Margaret persuades her new neighbor to record Margaret's memories of her War experiences as a nurse in France, hoping that by opening up herself that Jennifer will also reveal her past. But nothing gets her neighbor to speak up. So Margaret pushes harder at boundaries to dig out information. And then she steps over a line.
Chapters are narrated alternately between each woman, so we readers soon start to piece together Jennifer's (and Margaret's) secrets long before they are revealed to each other. There is sadness in both of their stories, hints of great loss, and also the possibilities that these women had roles in their own fates and those of others close to them.
....conceal, reveal; reveal, conceal. People don't ever understand. No one will love us if they know the worst and yet if they don't know the worst we can't trust their love.A strong book beautifully, compassionately and honestly written of damaged women seeking to satisfy their own dreams, no matter the affect on others they have allowed into their lives. These unforgettable women will work their way into your mind in unexpectedly tender, yet often frustrating ways that are not soon forgotten.
So much depends on every choice we make. This is obvious and yet endlessly to be marveled at. So many tales of what ripples outward, so many dreams of parallel universes. Because we tell stories about the things we find impossible to bear. Then we can pretend they are only stories.
If this book interests you, be sure to check out:
Shreve, Anita. Stella Bain
A woman wakes up in a World War I French hospital bed with no memory and tries to find out about her past and the people in her life. (previously reviewed here)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Add a comment or book recommendation.