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Summary
Summary
A National Bestseller. From the New York Times bestselling author comes a new novel that tells the story of a capable, well-born Atlanta woman who, in the wake of a devastating divorce and her mother's sudden death, struggles to find a place for herself in the isolation and stark beauty of New England island. Needing to come to terms with this cataclysm and figure out who she is... Molly leaves for Matha's Vineyard. A New York Times Bestseller. A Boston Globe Bestseller. A Publishers Weekly Bestseller. A Library Journal Prepub Bestseller. A Literary Guild Main Selection. A DoubleDay Book Club Main Selection.
Author Notes
Novelist Anne Rivers Siddons was born in Fairburn, Georgia in 1936. She studied at Auburn University in Alabama and Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.
Siddons was an editor and columnist for the Auburn Plainsman, senior editor for Atlanta magazine and worked in advertising.
Her treatment of the South in her novels often earns comparisons to Margaret Mitchell. One of her books, Peachtree Road, won her Georgia author of the year honors (1988). Her novels include: Sweetwater Creek, Off Season and Burnt Mountain. In 2014 her title, The Girls of August, made The New York Times Best Seller List.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
YAFor Molly Redwine, maintaining her family is the essence of her existence. When her husband announces he is leaving her for another woman, her world collapses. The "other woman" quickly takes over Molly's social position, her house, and even the affection of her son. With the sudden death of her domineering mother, Molly is truly set adrift. Escaping with friends to Martha's Vineyard, she starts the search for her own identity. When her friends depart, she stays on in a small cottage. As a renter, she must also assume the duties of caretaker of two cantankerous old women who share a haunting secret, a gravely ill and estranged son of one of those women, and two territorial swans. Through the winter, Molly struggles to nurture them as she searches for a future for herself. As with most of Siddons's heroines, Molly is an engaging woman who battles successfully with adversity and remains unsinkable. The author's fans will be delighted with her latest novel and its setting.Katherine Fitch, Lake Braddock Middle School, Burke, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Heroines who are beset by crises while trying to do their best by family and friends are Siddons's stock-in-trade. The appealing protagonist of her 12th novel (after Heartbreak Hotel) is Molly Redwine of Atlanta, who for two decades has devoted herself to her Coca Cola-exec husband, Tee, her two childrenand the mythic concept of family togetherness. Now with 10 extra pounds bulking her statuesque figure and a nearly empty nest, Molly is devastated when Tee announces he's leaving her for a young attorney in Coke's legal department. When her manipulative, fault-finding mother suddenly dies shortly after they have had a rancorous conversation, an emotionally destroyed Molly takes temporary refuge with a friend on Martha's Vineyarda terrain and atmosphere that Siddons evokes with insightful accuracy. Then, locked out of her own house by Tee's incredibly uncouth and presumptuous mistress, Molly impulsively decides to stay on the Vineyard through the winter as caretaker to two sick elderly women, the cancer-stricken adult son of one of them, two hostile swans and, eventually, her own father, a widower sunk in a deep depression. Naturally, this is the catalyst for a typical Siddons situation in which a woman whose life is in shambles finds love, security and meaning just where she least expected it. Siddons's main fault is laying on drama and complications with a trowel, as she again does here, especially in allowing Molly's mother to maraud in Molly's dreams. Yet her novels, including this one, are redeemed by her ability to deal with larger issueshere, loss of many kindswhile her engaging characters find their destinies in a suspenseful story. 250,000 first printing; $200,000 ad/promo; simultaneous audio; author tour; first serial and dramatic rights: Virginia Barber. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Siddons has her formula down to a science (Fault Lines, 1995, etc.), as this latest once again demonstrates. Molly Bell Redwine is a woman who's never had a chance to discover herself. As a child, she lived under the shadow of her glamorous mother. As a young adult, she met and married Tee, a Coca-Cola executive who fathered her two children, Teddy and Caroline, and kept her comfortable in the manner to which she'd become accustomed. When Tee announces out of the blue that he's met a younger woman, a Coke attorney, and wants a divorce, and Molly's mother up and dies without any notice, Molly's stable if painfully dull Atlanta existence is thrown into disarray. On the advice of her transplanted northern friend Liv, she heads to Liv's house in Martha's Vineyard for the rest of the summer, and to everyone's surprise decides to stay once Liv heads back south at the end of the season. On the island, Molly finds herself in an unusual position as house-sitter, nurse, and friend to two elderly, ill women, and as part-time caretaker to one of the women's sons, who's suffering from cancer and has recently had his leg amputated. On top of it all, Molly's depressed, mourning father joins her, hoping to find solace in this place where he and his daughter are anonymous. But as is often the case--at least in a good Siddons novel--alone doesn't last for long, and love comes when it's least expected. What has seemed at first an unbearable burden transforms Molly in ways she couldn't have imagined. Far-fetched but oddly compelling, this beaten-down housewife's journey to self-reliance and happiness has surprising quirks, lively characters, and actual feeling. (First printing of 250,000; Literary Guild selection; $200,000 ad/promo; author tour)
Booklist Review
Following her resoundingly successful Fault Lines (1995), Siddons now introduces Molly Bell Redwine, the statuesque wife of an Atlanta blue blood. This story is a quest for family; her whole life, Molly, now a happy wife and mother in the wealthy Atlanta suburbs, has defined her universe by what she perceives to be her role in the family. Molly's world begins its descent upon learning that her husband not only has a mistress but also has plans to marry the younger woman. Her mother's sudden death only makes her ground shakier. Thus, without realizing it, Molly begins a journey to find a new family. She decides to stay on at Martha's Vineyard after visiting her friend there, and she proceeds to play familiar roles with new people. Siddons has always had a certain knack for weaving lyrical phrases and conveying a mood through her prose; her portrayal of the woman scorned is particularly poignant and insightful, as is her depiction of complex family dynamics. But the story gets frustrating because the reader wants everything to be right for Molly, and that certainly doesn't always happen. Sure there is some sort of resolution at the end, but it is a disjointed and odd conclusion. However, given the 250,000-copy first printing and aggressive marketing, this novel is sure to find its fans. --Mary Frances Wilkens
Library Journal Review
A woman whose family has fallen apart finds refuge on Martha's Vineyard, caring for others as a means of finding herself. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.