Saturday, September 7, 2013

The Good Wife by Jane Porter

The Good Wife (Final Novel in the Brennan Sisters Trilogy)  Jane Porter. Penguin Group (USA). September 2013. 432 pp. pbk. ISBN #: 9780425253670
.
This is mainly the story about Sarah Brennan and her husband Boone, a famous baseball player; but it’s also about the feisty Brennan clan with their passionate loves and hates.  It’s also about Lauren Summers, a young woman who has been devastated by the loss of her lover and another huge loss that she copes with second by second, minute by minute.  Jane Porter has written a novel about the depths of marital, maternal, fraternal and sibling love and the depths one can experience in any one of those relationships. It’s also about how one handles fear of the loss of such great love by embracing the rock-solid love lying deeply within each character herein.

Sarah Boone knows her husband spends many a night out with fellow baseball players; because she sees so much extra-marital affairs in her own family she begins to fear it could happen to her. But she can’t really cope with it at the moment because the Brennan family is about to move through a series of the most untimely deaths in a row that one could imagine. Being a typical Irish clan means such raw emotions come out in unforeseen ways.  So one sister discovers her marriage is about to end, but she has no idea how that will flesh out because it happens far too rapidly for her to absorb.  A parent dies and the Boone sisters realize just how much this person held the glue together in the family and kept the constant small spats from erupting into gargantuan battles.  One sister is dating a guy the other sisters judge to be a misfit and unworthy of fitting in with this family.  The kids begin spatting when they start repeating what they hear their parents say that was truly meant only for private conversation.  Add to the mix that Boone’s career may be about to change; the question will it mean staying where he is, transferring to another baseball team or retiring all together from the sport; and how will they live depending on what the future holds?

Luanne on the other hand is grieving fiercely, so much so that she decides to move out of her hometown to escape the heartrending memories she holds close to her heart.  She attempts to open her own business and eventually will meet another friend of Boone.  She wonders whether she can trust again.

All in all these gals have a lot on their plates that affects every other decision they make and how they interact with indescribably potent feelings and thoughts that could break or bind them anew.  Tragedy can be depicted as real as it is but it doesn’t have to be over-burdensome.  Jane Porter has given a slice of how people discover weaknesses in their personalities and how they can transform those traits to strengths, both alone and with the support of a family who deep down love each other in a unique way.  In a crisis, over-the-top love wins every time where it should. 

This is fine contemporary fiction and highly recommended reading!


No comments:

Post a Comment