Journal Entry 1 by Ri from Cincinnati, Ohio USA on Sunday, July 06, 2008

From Publishers Weekly
The familiar protagonist of Berg's 13th novel (after The Art of Mending) is a Boston widow of several months, 55-year-old Betta Nolan, who fulfills her dying husband's dream of moving out to the Midwest and starting a new life. "It will give me peace to know that what you will do is exactly what we talked about," says John commandingly before dying of liver cancer; Betta, an author of children's books, sells their Beacon Hill brownstone and takes off, buying an oversized Victorian in the small town of Stewart, Ill., 49 miles from Chicago. Lonely, she finds herself tracking down three former college roommates from the late 1960s, Lorraine, Maddy and Susanna, whom she ditched once she met John. The women reappear one by one and help give her the courage to open a shop called What a Woman Wants (it'll sell "all different stuff that women loved. Beautiful things, but unusual too. Like antique birdcages with orchids growing in them"). Meanwhile, she begins to make friends in town, notably with attractive young handyman Matthew and natty oldster Tom Bartlett. Berg is a pro at putting together an affecting saga of interest to women of a certain age, yet here she seems to be writing in her sleep. There is little effort at cohesion—rather, a kind of serendipitous plot that goes every which way and a series of tentative, aborted romances. The impression readers will be left with is of a woman endlessly nurturing and rarely satisfied. 

Journal Entry 2 by Ri at Cincinnati, Ohio USA on Sunday, January 16, 2011

Elizabeth Berg doesn't disappoint with this one! It amazes me how she is able to weave the stories and lives of so many ages of characters, seamlessly. They interact authentically, each from their own station in life with their own experience. As always, Berg writes a relationship and character driven story rather than a plot driven one. It feels rich and real.

Sending this one on to elsi. 

Journal Entry 3 by elsi at Sanger, Texas USA on Friday, May 20, 2011

This was in Tuesday's mail. Thanks for sending -- I am, as usual, looking forward to reading it.