The New Julia Glass Is Almost Here! And Joe LOVES It!

In a historic farmhouse outside Boston, seventy-year-old Percy Darling is settling happily into retirement: reading novels, watching old movies, and swimming naked in his pond. His routines are disrupted, however, when he is persuaded to let a locally beloved preschool take over his barn. As Percy sees his rural refuge overrun by children, parents, and teachers, he must reexamine the solitary life he has made in the three decades since the sudden death of his wife. No longer can he remain aloof from his community, his two grown daughters, or, to his shock, the precarious joy of falling in love.

One relationship Percy treasures is the bond with his oldest grandchild, Robert, a premed student at Harvard. Robert has long assumed he will follow in the footsteps of his mother, a prominent physician, but he begins to question his ambitions when confronted by a charismatic roommate who preaches—and begins to practice—an extreme form of ecological activism, targeting Boston’s most affluent suburbs.

Meanwhile, two other men become fatefully involved with Percy and Robert: Ira, a gay teacher at the preschool, and Celestino, a Guatemalan gardener who works for Percy’s neighbor, each one striving to overcome a sense of personal exile. Choices made by all four men, as well as by the women around them, collide forcefully on one lovely spring evening, upending everyone’s lives, but none more radically than Percy’s.

With equal parts affection and satire, Julia Glass spins a captivating tale about the loyalties, rivalries, and secrets of a very particular family. Yet again, she plumbs the human heart brilliantly, dramatically, and movingly.

Joe, in this week's Dispatch From The Field, says:
Julia Glass, author of "Three Junes", "The Whole World Over" and "I See You Everywhere" is probably best known for her female characters. In "The Widower's Tale", the story revolves around Percy Darling, a 70 year-old widower and his grandson, a junior at Harvard. Julia Glass does not let the reader down: these are characters fully realized, in a novel that is masterfully told. Percy is somewhat of a curmudgeon: he has lived alone in his house since his wife's tragic death 30 years earlier. He has two daughters, Clover & Trudy. Clover, the older one, has led a life many would call carefree, perhaps to a detriment. Trudy has become one of Boston's best-known breast cancer doctors. Her son, Robert, has a close bond with his grandfather, and it is between these two men that the bulk of the story line unfolds. And what a story! Glass is adept at weaving an intricate and somewhat dense story that leaves the reader satisfied. Perhaps she is at the top of her game in this book. The emotional heft of the story is slow in coming, as we get to know these characters, their motivations, their dreams and their memories through first-person narration. But the story builds and builds and the momentum propels the reader to the very finish. Julia Glass loves words, and it shows in this novel. Percy is erudite and a wannabe luddite. Robert is a college student: connected via email and oral shortcuts and caught up in the passions of youth. Their bond is undeniable, and it is refreshing to see a tale told from more than one generation's perspective. The supporting cast in this novel is also thoughtfully portrayed, and though they could be seen as cliches, they do nothing but add richness and reality to this thoroughly wonderful story. I would recommend this book for bookclubs, for lovers of books, and most of all, for men who want to get one idea of what a 70 year-old man sounds and feels like in literature. I would love to be half as spry and thoughtful as Percy Darling! Thank you, Julia Glass, for another fantastic book. I cried at the end, and not only from the story, but from the necessity to say farewell to Percy & Robert.

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