Told from three perspectives in alternating chapters, Monica Wood weaves the lives of one young woman, and a man and woman in their sixties, into a tale of endless self-discovery, resilience, and the importance of community. Violet Powell was a teenager who, for love and adventure, takes off for Portland, Maine with her teenaged fiancé, for a new life. Naïve with respect to his alcohol and drug dependencies, she goes along to get along, resulting in a car wreck that takes the life of a kindergarten teacher. In prison, Violet meets Harriet Larson, a widow, mother of two grown daughters, retired teacher, and volunteer, who is running a book club for a group of female inmates. We also meet Frank Daigle, a widow, father of one grown daughter, retired machinist, and now a part-time handyman at the local bookstore in Portland. Frank’s wife, Lorraine, was the victim in Violet’s car crash. After Harriet and Violet bond during book club, Violet is released six months early, due to her good behavior.

It is within this story structure that we encounter several themes and levels of interest: prison life, what is the reality and goals of incarceration, as well as the lifelong impacts; how we hurt and help each other in marriage, bringing out the best and worst over a lifetime; how relationships change between parents and children as those children become adults, and take on the roles and responsibilities of adulthood; and why are we here, knowing who we know, helping or failing to help those in our lives. Wood probes all of these questions within the little world she creates in Portland, Maine.

Wood entices us to care about and root for her main characters. We want to shout at Violet and urge her to stay away from her former boyfriend; we thoroughly enjoy the young bookstore staff as they care deeply about Frank and want the best for him; we worry about Harriet in the prison environment, wanting so much to bring humanity, caring, and insight to those women, in a demeaning, dehumanizing, punishing environment.

I don’t want to give any surprises away. You will fly through this book, the characters are real and will stay with you for a long time. Regardless of the ways life has hurt you, been unfair, even tragic, there is always hope, and that hope springs from the love, caring, and forgiveness we give to others. Highly recommended.