| Summary Note |
From the inimitable Anne Tyler, a rich and compelling novel about a mismatched marriage and its consequences, spanning three generations. They seemed like the perfect couple, young, good-looking, made for each other. The moment Pauline, a stranger to the Polish Eastern Avenue neighbourhood of Baltimore (though she lived only twenty minutes away), walked into his mother's grocery store, Michael was smitten. And in the heat of World War II fervour, they are propelled into a hasty wedding. But they never should have married. Pauline, impulsive, impractical, tumbles hit-or-miss through life; Michael, plodding, cautious, judgmental, proceeds deliberately. While other young marrieds, equally ignorant at the start, seemed to grow more seasoned, Pauline and Michael remain amateurs. In time their foolish quarrels take their toll. Even when they find themselves, almost thirty years later, loving, instant parents to a little grandson named Pagan. |
