Everyone has those moments in life, usually during high school, that they REALLY wish they could do over, or at least tell someone off for. Caroline Jacobs is just such a woman. After speaking her mind for the first time in years (and using some language just a little too shocking for a PTA meeting), she realizes that her doormat-like behavior and lack of career success (she is a very talented photographer) all hark back to the day that her best friend Emily snubbed her in the high school cafeteria, leaving her friendless, alone, and thoroughly humiliated. Caroline decides on the spur of the moment, to drive from her home in Maryland to Blackstone, Massachusetts, her teenage daughter Polly in tow, to confront Emily about that life-changing moment. During the trip she periodically checks in by phone with her bewildered (but supportive) husband and begins to see her recalcitrant daughter, Polly, in a new light. She finally tracks down Emily in her beautiful upscale home, Caroline is at first intimidated, but after spending time with her old friend she begins to see that perspective can be skewed by age and circumstances.
Matthew Dicks is one of my favorite authors. It takes a great man to write convincingly from a female perspective and he succeeds admirably. In fact, considering that he has in the past written from the perspective of an autistic child, a brilliant but obsessive-compulsive thief, and a quirky (also OCD) male nurse, I guess that he could probably write from almost any point of view. His specialty is getting into the heads of people that are lovable but just a little bit off kilter. I have met Matthew Dicks. If you have not, you might come to the conclusion that this is a man with deep-seated psychological problems, but that's not the impression I got. I think he's just brilliant!
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