Kitty S. (kittynewengland) reviewed on 7/28/2012 + 116 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

I enjoyed spending time in Matlock, Massachusetts following a year in the life of longtime widower Percy Darling, a retired Harvard librarian who values the solitude he has craved out for himself. This solitude is upended when he agrees to turn his barn into a preschool, an uncharacteristic move that is done to help his floundering 40-something-year-old daughter secure a job. This decision will bring Percy and his family in contact with a preschool teacher, a Guatemalan gardener, and a single mother who become interconnected in complicated ways. Julia Glass' novel touches upon contemporary themes of immigration, abortion, ecoterrorism, divorce, health care and gay rights. I enjoyed the book especially because it was told through the perspectives of men, which is unlike most of the fiction I read.

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