Publisher's Weekly Review
McFadden overreaches in her follow-up to The Richest Season, a too-busy family drama overflowing with common conundrums. Claire Noble, at 45, believes she's on the cusp of a new, liberated life-she's one year away from early retirement; her daughter, Amy, is grown and out of the house; and she and her fiance, Rick, are planning to move from New Jersey to Arizona, where they can pursue their passions (photography for her, golf for him). The plans soon turn into pipe dreams when a massively pregnant Amy returns home, Claire's father's Parkinson's disease rapidly advances, and Rick has trouble coping with it all. In the midst of chaos, Claire drags her family to Provincetown, Mass., where she'll take part in a prestigious photography workshop while the town's romantic charms work their magic on Claire's clan. But with so many complications constantly disrupting the lives of major and minor characters, it's difficult to connect much less keep up with who's suffering from what. McFadden's prose has its moments of clarity and emotion, but the narrative leans too heavily on phoned-in sentiment to make an impact. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Teacher and single mother Claire has always put others first, but at 45, she's ready to follow her own dreams: attending the prestigious Cape Cod Arts Center summer photography workshop, marrying Rick, and moving from her old New Jersey house to a modern Arizona condo on the golf course. Unfortunately, her life takes another turn when she finds a very pregnant Amy, her runaway daughter, on her doorstep. Then, after Claire realizes that her parents are desperately unhappy in their assisted-living complex, self-absorbed Rick, unwilling to become enmeshed in her family concerns, postpones the wedding. When Claire decides to stay home, attractive bad-boy conservationist John Poole presses her to photograph the local canal for a historic-preservation project. Offered a place in the autumn workshop, she packs up the entire family, never realizing just how much will change in all their lives from Claire's first hesitant steps to personal fulfillment. McFadden's richly nuanced novel examines choices and secret yearnings within a rich context of history, tradition, and environmental issues.--Welch, Lynne Copyright 2009 Booklist
