Synopses & Reviews
A world of possibilities opens up for Joy Harkness when she sets out on a journey thats going to show her the importance of friendship, love, and what makes a house a home
Coming-of-age can happen at any age. Joy Harkness had built a university career and a safe life in New York, protected and insulated from the intrusions and involvements of other people. When offered a position at Amherst College, she impulsively leaves the city, and along with generations of material belongings, she packs her equally heavy emotional baggage. A tumbledown Victorian house proves an unlikely choice for a woman whose family heirlooms have been boxed away for years. Nevertheless, this white elephant becomes the home that changes Joy forever. As the restoration begins to take shape, so does her outlook on life, and the choices she makes over paint chips, wallpaper samples, and floorboards are reflected in her connection to the co-workers who become friends and friendships that deepen. A brilliant, quirky, town fixture of a handyman guides the renovation of the house and sparks Joys interest to encourage his personal and professional growth. Amid the half-wanted attention of the campuss single, middle-aged men, known as “the Coyotes,”and the legitimate dramas of her close-knit community, Joy learns that the key to the affection of family and friends is being worthy of it, and most important, that second chances are waiting to be discovered within us all.
Review
“The strong characters, believable situations, fine writing, and great storytelling make for a remarkably compelling book.”—Booklist
"Sure to be much-loved and often-shared, this graceful, funny novel nudges its characters and readers toward self renewal, change, and a chance for greater happiness. … Diane Meier's liberating novel values both the arcane scholarship of college professors and the practical, artistic insights of handymen and real estate agents. Like The Secret Life Of Bees, this brave, warm novel suggests that for a person who has the courage to seize a second chance, there's also the opportunity for a rewarding third chance, or fourth, of fifth…"—Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahabs Wife and Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette
“Diane Meiers novel has it all: a narrator with a voice as knowing, acerbic, and funny as the best of Ephron; a plot that keeps you avidly turning the pages, and a character about as tender, touching, and exasperating as any I can recall encountering outside of real life. I loved it.”—John Colapinto, author of About the Author
“Sophisticated, original, erudite, and with observations that are simultaneously profound, precise, and surprisingly funny.”—Sara Pritchard, author of Crackpots
“As in an old house, you will encounter all manner of surprises on Joys journey and I promise, they will keep you reading far too late in the evening to be sensible.”—Katherine Lanpher, author of Leap Days: Chronicles of a Midlife Move
About the Author
Diane Meier is the author of The New American Wedding and president of Meier, a New York City-based marketing firm. Her career spans from writing and design to public speaking. This is her first novel. Meier lives in New York City and Litchfield, Connecticut.
Reading Group Guide
1. Do you find Joy to be a reliable narrator? Is she capable of providing insights about her own life? Does this change from the beginning to the end of the novel?
2. How did your opinion of Joy change throughout the novel? Did you find her endearing at first? In a way, do you think your perception of the narrator over the course of the novel mimics Joys own coming to terms with herself?
3. Joy heads off to Amherst thinking that it will be a fresh change from what she perceives as the politics and bureaucracy at Columbia. Is Amherst truly different from Columbia? Did Adele Grants wedding change your opinion of the life Joy left behind?
4. At first, Joy finds Fran and Josies attempts at friendship intrusive. What is it that finally gets her to accept them as her friends? Why do you think it takes Joy so long to open up to them?
5. When Teddy first starts working on Joys house, he takes her completely by surprise when he recites Yeats to her. What do you make of this incident? How does it foreshadow the events still to come? 6. Joys sharp wit pervades the novel. Do you think that in some ways she uses her wit to distract herself from the reality at hand? Is it a kind of guard for her?
7. Consider the effect that Joes death had on Teddy, and the effects of Tims death on Joy. Were their reactions to losing an older brother at all similar? How did Joy and Teddy each respond to this loss? Joy mentions that once she moved to New York, she no longer felt that Timmy was with her. Why do you think this changes when she arrives in Amherst?
8. At one point in the novel, Joy goes to Wills apartment, where she is met by a half-naked Will, and, moments later, a neighbor knocking at the door in a negligee who claims to have stopped by because she thought she smelled gas. What do you make of this incident? How is it that Will manages to make her try to talk herself out of what shes seen? Is she willing to be manipulated? Why?
9. In what ways is the night Joy leaves Will a major turning point for her? Is there anything different about her afterward?
10. How does Joy deal with the attack on Donna? Does she surprise herself in some ways? Did she surprise you?
11. What does this novel have to say about feminism? Consider Bernadette Lowells opinions about women taking care of each other, and also what Theo (the hairdresser) has to say about looking good to get ahead. What is Joys definition of feminism? Does it change over the course of the novel?
12. Joy, Josie, and Dan all want to get Teddy to go back to school, but he doesnt seem particularly interested. Why do you think that is? What are Joys reasons for wanting Teddy to go back to school? Do her actions in this arena demonstrate a deeper understanding of Teddy or not? Do you think, at times, academic learning can be overly important to her?
13. Parts of the novels plot turn on Teddys relationship with his mother, Maureen. Why do you think she treats him the way that she does? Why does he submit to it? Do you think that Teddy is genuinely his own person? Do you think he can be his own person while hes still under his mothers wing?