The Richest Season
By: Lindsay Rosasco |
Thursday June 26, 2008 |
Don’t be fooled by the light pink cover of The Richest Season adorned with seashells. I thought this novel would be a light beach read; you know, the ones with a somewhat predictable plot and basic characters, but you love it anyway for what it is. That’s not this book though. In The Richest Season Maryann McFadden delivers an emotional story from three points of view: Joanna, Grace, and Paul.
Joanna has always been a dutiful and loyal corporate wife to Paul, complying with countless relocations and forfeiting a real life of her own. With her two children living away, the only passion in Joanna’s life has left her missing her children and extremely lonely. With Paul constantly gone on long work trips, no children to look after, and another relocation on the way, Joanna comes to the realization that she has nothing holding her down to her empty house. Acting on a whim, she packs up some things and takes a long road trip down south to a nostalgic family vacation spot: Pawney Island off the coast of South Carolina.
With no job or place to live, the live-in assistant position she finds in the newspaper seems like a dream come true. A six month commitment is necessary for the job, and it includes a place to live, with Grace. Grace is an elderly woman who requires some light cleaning, cooking, and errands from Joanna. Domestic Joanna finds this position to be right up her ally, and how difficult can it be to get along with a sweet elderly lady with beachfront property?
When Paul returns from a business trip and finds his wife gone, he knows this is just a phase. He assumes she is merely trying to prove a point by giving herself some space, and she’d come crawling back to her corporate wife life like she always has. Paul finally tracks Joanna down and realizes that he was sorely mistaken. This forces him to take a good, hard look at his own life and how he has abandoned his wife and children, and instead was married to his work for all these years.
The three intricate and deep points of view all intertwine to really grab your emotions and the plots and characters are so carefully developed. Depending on where you are in your own life, I think many different readers will pull various meanings from this novel about the many transitions in life.
