Of mists and mellow fruitfulness

    

     I mentioned in passing the other day that Diane Meier's The Season of Second Chances was a treat of a book, and I'm saying it again now that I've reflected on it, and with even greater conviction! It's one of those novels in which you want to live for a while - getting to know the people, exploring the place, and delighting in what you find with almost every encounter. Beautifully, intelligently written, full of insight into human nature and dressed in sophisticated style, it is an interesting and inviting book in which to spend time.

    Dr. Joy Harkness leaves New York and Columbia University to take up a post in a ground-breaking educational program at Amherst College. Under the clear-sighted leadership of Bernadette Lowell, "a kind of Julia Child of academia", the team will teach the liberal arts in a cross-disciplinary context. As Joy settles into her new department, warmly welcomed by colleagues, she discovers a small-town closeness she never experienced in the big city, but having habitually kept most people at arm's length, this takes some getting used to.

     While work absorbs Joy, so too does her new house, a large Victorian villa which she is renovating with the help of local builder, Teddy Hennessy. As Teddy's skill and eye for detail transform the ramshackle old place into a welcoming, comforting home, so Joy's life opens up to new relationships and in "a world outside of ideas, of letters and literature", she discovers things she thought had passed her by.

    I'll give you no more of the plot than that, but I will tell you what 'furnishes' the novel: books do, literary references abound, food does, clothes too - though there's a telling twist to that strand - and interiors and objects form an exquisite backdrop to every scene.  The whole is warm and elegant, fluent and absorbing; a grown-up coming-of-age story, but a witty and unpredictable one. This is Diane Meier's first novel - and a most assured one at that; I hope her next book is well on its way as the fans she will have acquired with her debut will be eagerly awaiting it.

Comments

[Coffee and a Book Chick]

Sounds like a lovely book -- everything about this makes me want to *be* this person...sigh, but to dream!

[Barbara]

I am off to Smiths to see if they have this - it sounds just my kind of book. Thanks for reviewing it.

[adele geras]

My kind of book exactly, too! Can't wait to read it. And do you know a book I found in the library the other day called MADAME PROUST and the KOSHER KITCHEN by Kate Taylor? It's published by Chatto and Windus and I'd never heard of it nor seen any reviews. It combines food, Paris, Marcel's mum ....all fascinating subjects for me, and with Jewishness in Toronto thrown into the mix. What's, as they say, not to like? A Happy and Sweet New Year to all Cornflower's Jewish readers!

[Mystica]

I've read reviews of this before but no one gave it such an ambiance!!!! I want to read it now.

[Julie Fredericksen]

I'm just so happy that we are in agreement about this book!

[Colleen (Books in the City)]

I agree with your review - I thoroughly enjoyed this book too! I especially like your comment that it's "one of those novels in which you want to live awhile".

[Nancy]

Hey, I live in Amherst!! What a surprise to read this review. I'm probably about 8 blocks from the edge of that campus (and 5 blocks from Emily Dickinson's house). Amherst _is_ a small town - out here in the western half of the state amid much farmland. We get a lot of New York transplants to the Amherst/Northampton area - they seem to like it here (about 140 miles from the City, & about 80 miles from Boston).

Also in Amherst is the Univ. of Massachusetts & Hampshire College - 9 miles away in Northampton is Smith College and 9 miles away in South Hadley is Mount Holyoke College. There is much cooperation & exchange among the 5 campuses (free bus system, libraries, etc.). Of them all, I think Amherst College is possibly the most insular.

[Laurel Ann]

I was enchanted by Teddy and Joy and the gang. Diane "sees" and can write things I can only feel. It is a gift. I read & reviewed this book too and liked it immensely. Glad you enjoyed it also.