Mary M. (emeraldfire) -
During the late 1960s, five totally different women find themselves consistently meeting together every Wednesday at a park in Palo Alto, California. Initially defined by what their husbands do, these young homemakers and mothers are all fairly far removed from the Summer of Love. The 'Wednesday Sisters', as the ladies begin to call themselves - Frankie, Linda, Kath, Ally and Brett - actually don't seem to have much more in common with each other beyond a shared love of literature and the 'Miss America Pageant'.
Frankie is a timid transplant from Chicago; brutally honest and blunt Linda is a remarkable athlete; Kath is a Kentucky-bred debutante; quiet Ally has a secret that she has been keeping to herself; and quirky, ultra-intelligent Brett always makes sure to wear white gloves with her miniskirts. Yet somehow these five women find a way - over the course of nearly four decades - to redefine the meaning of the word family. By sharing their mutual admiration for the work of such authors as F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Eliot, Jane Austen, Daphne du Maurier, Sylvia Plath, and Charles Dickens and watching the 'Miss America Pageant' on television together each year; the ladies form an extraordinarily strong and lasting bond that will sustain all of them through the years.
As the years roll on and their children grow older, the quintet forms a writers' circle to express their hopes and dreams through writing poetry, stories, and, eventually, books. Along the way, this talented sisterhood also experiences history in the making - Vietnam, the race to put a man on the moon, and a women's movement that challenges everything that they have ever thought about themselves. All the while, the ladies support each other through the various personal struggles that they experience in their own lives: the changes to each of them that come from infedelity, longing, illness, failure, and success. The Wednesday Sisters is a humorous and poignant novel; a literary feast for book lovers that earns a place among those popular works that honor the joyful, mysterious, unbreakable bonds between friends.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. In my opinion, the story was very well-written and wonderfully historically detailed; I found that this author worked the various historical events into the story in a realistic and completely believable way. While I appreciated the detailed historical context - and thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because of it - I must say that I actually loved reading the stories of the 'Wednesday Sisters' themselves; their own personal life stories, slightly more than the historical context. I would give this book a definite A+! and am eagerly awaiting the chance to read Ms. Clayton's sequel: The Wednesday Daughters.
Frankie is a timid transplant from Chicago; brutally honest and blunt Linda is a remarkable athlete; Kath is a Kentucky-bred debutante; quiet Ally has a secret that she has been keeping to herself; and quirky, ultra-intelligent Brett always makes sure to wear white gloves with her miniskirts. Yet somehow these five women find a way - over the course of nearly four decades - to redefine the meaning of the word family. By sharing their mutual admiration for the work of such authors as F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Eliot, Jane Austen, Daphne du Maurier, Sylvia Plath, and Charles Dickens and watching the 'Miss America Pageant' on television together each year; the ladies form an extraordinarily strong and lasting bond that will sustain all of them through the years.
As the years roll on and their children grow older, the quintet forms a writers' circle to express their hopes and dreams through writing poetry, stories, and, eventually, books. Along the way, this talented sisterhood also experiences history in the making - Vietnam, the race to put a man on the moon, and a women's movement that challenges everything that they have ever thought about themselves. All the while, the ladies support each other through the various personal struggles that they experience in their own lives: the changes to each of them that come from infedelity, longing, illness, failure, and success. The Wednesday Sisters is a humorous and poignant novel; a literary feast for book lovers that earns a place among those popular works that honor the joyful, mysterious, unbreakable bonds between friends.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. In my opinion, the story was very well-written and wonderfully historically detailed; I found that this author worked the various historical events into the story in a realistic and completely believable way. While I appreciated the detailed historical context - and thoroughly enjoyed reading this book because of it - I must say that I actually loved reading the stories of the 'Wednesday Sisters' themselves; their own personal life stories, slightly more than the historical context. I would give this book a definite A+! and am eagerly awaiting the chance to read Ms. Clayton's sequel: The Wednesday Daughters.
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