The Good House by Ann Leary

1 Posts Back Home

Review: The Good House by Ann Leary

the-good-house

Hildy Good has lived in the small historic Massachusetts town of Wendover all her life. She can trace her ancestors back to her eighth-great-grandmother Sarah, one of the witches tried and hanged in Salem. She’s divorced, on the upper side of middle-aged and runs a well-established real estate business. She enjoys a glass of wine. Or two. She likes the taste. She likes the whole social world that generally accompanies going out for a drink. And she loves the way she feels when she’s had a glass. Or bottle.

Her daughters see it differently: to them she has become an alcoholic and they arrange an intervention that ends with Hildy semi-voluntarily entering rehab. When she emerges she’s accepted back into the small-town social whirl without a hiccup except that her glass is automatically filled with water or a soft drink where previously it would have been a Burgundy. Problem solved.  And she can still enjoy a glass or two in the sanctuary of her own home: “It’s better this way. No more worrying that the hosts will stop serving drinks before I’ve had enough. No more regrets the next day. Now I stay home in the evenings and slip serenely into myself. They’d think it was sad, my daughters, but those are some of the happiest moments in my life, when I can change comfortably back into myself. No every night any more. Not every night. No.”

Navigate
Follow

Get the latest posts delivered to your mailbox: