Willett (Echoes of the Dance
) gives us a domestic novel of quiet yearning, haunting memories and onerous guilt, oscillating between the present of 2004 and the late 1970s, when bighearted mom Julia welcomed her pregnant, widowed best friend Tiggy into her home to live. With lush descriptions of pastoral Cornwall as a backdrop, Willett explores the life of naval wives Julia and Julia’s Aunt Em, daughter-in-law Caroline and nemesis Angela, each of whom spend much time waiting for her husband to return. Julia and her daughter, Liv, grapple with echoes of their former lives: for Julia, it’s the specter of her husband’s infidelity, in the form of Angela; for Liv, it’s the one that got away, in the form of unhappily but intractably married co-worker Chris. And that’s hardly all; Willett piles on the conflicts and tragedies, overloading her suffering characters. The women are largely faultless and sweet—particularly the insouciant, lovely Liv—which undermines their well-earned gravitas. Still, Angela makes a delicious antagonist, and the friendships at the novel’s heart—especially the tender relationship between Julia and Tiggy—are believable and warming. (Apr.)
