Moderator---Kathy
Lily Roberts Maynard begins her publishing career at age 72 with a memoir about her life as the wife of a minister who left the family behind in order to follow the civil rights movement. She becomes a celebrity. She also becomes stricken with Parkinson's disease. Independent living is no longer possible and it's time for a retirement community. But there is a wait to get in, so Lily has to move in with her son.
Mother Lily and son Alan are not close. There is a buried resentment that has deepened through the years. Now that they are under the same roof, it comes to the surface. Lily not only brings the metaphorical baggage into the home, she also bestows some of her older furniture that doesn't mix well with Alan's modern-designed house. Plus Lily needs additional help with her illness and her continued writing. She adds a nurse and a secretary to the day to day life in her son's home.
The novel is the story of a family. The layers are pulled back and you see things aren't always black and white. Both mother and son's marriages are put under the spotlight. Lily told her story in her memoir--but only told her side. Alan's marriage seems good and solid, but there have been questionable times in it too.
Sue Miller has a long list of books to her name. This is the second one by her that we have read. A few years back, we all enjoyed The Senator's Wife.
Bon Appetit!
Brie, cheese cubes, bread and
crackers, petit fours
"A moving novel of the estrangements that
fester in families."---Kathy 
"A relevant story about aging, dying, and
family relationships."---Kim
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