I love the cover of this new novel. For me, it signifies a somewhat broken marriage. Let’s go inside this book and find out what’s going on.
Malcolm and Jess were the golden couple, the beautiful people who graced the halls of their high school. Then Jess went away to law school and Malcolm worked at his favorite place on earth, THE HALF MOON which is a bar. They became a couple when Jess returned home during break. When she became pregnant they got married. Seemed like the right thing to do at the time. But she suffered a miscarriage and so there was that.
As Jess and Malcolm arrive at middle age we find Jess living with the disappointment in her job and the fact that NOW she is not able to get pregnant, and, of course, that is all she wants.
Malcolm has always only worked in the Half Moon bar. He has become the manager after years of menial work. He loves what he does. His dream is to own a bar of his own. So when the owner of the bar offers to sell it to him, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what’s going to happen. But, wait, there is more. Jess knows how much Malcolm wants to buy this bar. She breaks down and goes along with it. And then, just as the deal is being done, the owner offers Malcolm a little something extra, to purchase the land and building as well as the business. Without discussing this with his wife, he agrees to it. Then all holy hell breaks out. I knew I never liked this guy. I know that in our household neither of us would even think of making a decision this huge alone.
The marriage is falling apart. This novel takes place in a one week period where the town is basically paralyzed with the aftermath of life-threatening blizzard of epic proportions. Can the marriage be saved?
Keane is an amazing author. Her characters are deeply fleshed out and deal with issues we can recognize.
Mary Beth Keane is the NYT bestselling author of ASK AGAIN, YES. which I adored. I read this novel digitally. It was provided by Simon and Schuster through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. What a great book for discussion. I loved it!
Maurice on Books 