The title of Anna Quindlen’s newest book sounds like it is the title of a painting. In actuality, it is the title of a photograph that one of the key characters in the book has taken. Rebecca Winter is sixty years old, divorced with a grown son, living in a great apartment in NYC and has had a good career as a photograher. Unfortunately, her cash flow has diminished over the years and her bills have piled up. She decides to rent a small cottage upstate NY and lease out her apartment. This will help to ease her financial woes. The cottage is not all it was advertised to be. It is drafty, moldy, situated in a very wooded area and also appears to be housing a raccoon in the attic, but Rebecca is determined to make this situation work.
She has a lot of time to think in her “temporary” home. Time to think about her aging parents, her photographs that have not sold very well in recent years, and where life is going.
Quindlen has created characters that the reader really cares about. Rebecca, especially, is someone who rediscovers herself through her art and the people she encounters. Very well written, this is a book I couldn’t put down.