The Arrivals

February 14, 2011
An empty nest fills back up with alarming speed in Moore's promising debut. Five years have passed since the last of their kids have left home, and Ginny and William Owens have settled into a comfortable rhythm at home in Burlington, Vt., that's unexpectedly disrupted. Their exhausted and defeated daughter, Lillian, shows up with three-year-old Olivia, three-month-old Philip, and without her husband. Within days, Lillian's brother, Stephen, and his pregnant wife, Jane, arrive for an unannounced visit that will turn into a summer-long stay. Daughter Rachel, still working in New York, is teetering on the edge of financial and emotional disaster, and will also end up in Burlington in short order. Moore finds a crisp narrative in the morass of an overpacked household, and she keeps the proceedings moving with an assurance and outlook reminiscent of Laurie Colwin, evoking emotional universals with the simplest of observations, as in "the peace you feel when you are awake in a house where children are sleeping."

March 1, 2011

Moore debuts with an empty-nest dramedy about a couple in Burlington, Vt., whose three adult children return home for extended stays during one long but ultimately happy summer.

Oldest daughter Lillian is first to arrive on William and Ginny's doorstep. With 3-year-old Olivia and baby Philip in tow, Lillian claims she's just here for a rest, and she does seem exhausted with childcare. In their early 60s, Ginny and William are too polite to press, but the truth is that Lillian left husband Tom back in Massachusetts after he cheated on her with a co-worker at a drunken office party. In anger and spiritual confusion, Lillian finds herself drawn to the new young priest in town. Second son Stephen comes for a weekend visit with his pregnant wife Jane. They live in a Tribeca loft where Stephen makes a living writing book reviews (!), while Jane makes real money managing a financial firm. Ginny is dismayed to learn than Jane, whose intensity and careerism has always put the family off, plans to continue working after the baby while Stephen becomes the stay-at-home dad. Then Jane is forced onto bed rest and must stay in Burlington for the rest of her pregnancy. (Her mother, a divorced psychologist, is introduced early in the book but then drops from view.) Last to arrive is Rachel. A love affair has ended, she's in debt, and her casting director boss seems unhappy with her work. Then she realizes she's pregnant but has a miscarriage before she tells anyone. So she drops everything to head home for some family nurturing. William and Ginny, devout but open-minded Catholics, enjoy having the kids around but after awhile the chaos and laundry do get wearying. The mild situations and characters would have been at home on Father Knows Best. Jane goes into labor and might need a C-section. Tom comes to woo Lillian back. Rachel's boss calls begging her to return to work.

Reads like a glass of warm milk. 

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 1, 2011

William and Ginny Owens enjoy a quiet retirement in Vermont until their adult children return home one summer. Their oldest, Lillian, flees from a cheating husband, bringing a three-year-old and an infant. Thirty-five-year-old Stephen only planned a spontaneous weekend visit with his pregnant wife, but a medical emergency puts her in bed for the rest of the summer. Ginny picks up Rachel, the youngest, who's had a miscarriage, left New York, and feels as if she's failed at her job and her life. Glad to be needed, Ginny and William initially welcome their children home, but over the summer, they become tired and angry. When selfish people who haven't grown up harbor secrets and spend too much time together, it won't be long before the household is torn apart. VERDICT Reading about angry, immature adults can be tedious. With more sympathetic characters, Eleanor Brown's The Weird Sisters is a better choice for a story about adult children returning home. This debut novel is recommended with reservations for readers who enjoy family stories.--Lesa Holstine, Glendale P.L., AZ

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2011
Ginny and William Owens quiet summer is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of their adult children. Lillian brings her two small children for an unscheduled visit to escape her cheating husband. Stephen and his wife, Jane, are expecting their first child, and when Jane is put on bed rest, their visit is prolonged indefinitely. Rachel, recovering from a miscarriage and a bad breakup, takes up residence on an air mattress in her old bedroom. As the house fills with people in crisis, Ginny and William must again navigate the tricky waters of parenting. At issue for their children is balancing adult responsibilities with the need to still be parented. Solving their adult problems isnt easy as they straddle the line between grown-up and child. Featuring sharp dialogue and witty, easily recognizable characters, Moores debut takes an engaging, often humorous look at a familys struggle to cope with the passage of time and shifting family dynamics. It is a clear reminder of the changing yet changeless nature of families and the individuals who inhabit them.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)