Women friends! There's nothing like a novel that focuses on women who support and care about each other. The Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society brings together a disparate group: an embittered widow, a grieving unwed mother, an female plumber with a mysterious past, and an older eccentric in the early stages of dementia. Realistic? I don't know, but Gee manages to make us care about each and every one of them.
Isabel Kidd has let her house and her life fall apart since her dentist husband left her for his assistant 4 years ago, only to die in a car accident before their divorce was finalized. He left his new love, Ava, pregnant and lonely, never having had the chance to tell him that he was finally to become a father after years of fertility struggles with Isabel. Frances and her husband are preparing to adopt a baby girl from China to complete their family when they receive the news that their soon-to-be-adoptive daughter has serious health problems. Isabel's next-door neighbor, Bettie Shelton, believes that everyone should scrapbook to preserve their memories and to heal their souls. Bettie eventually recruits all of the women, some reluctantly, to her scrapbooking society.
When Bettie starts exhibiting strange and sometimes dangerous behavior, relationships and priorities shift for all of the women. New bonds are formed and old grudges are gradually forgotten and priorities change in each of their lives. If you enjoyed Lorna Landvik's Angry Housewives eating BonBons or Kate Jacobs' Friday Night Knitting Club, run to the library right now and check this out!
No comments:
Post a Comment