Thursdays in the Park

September 15, 2013
A sincere tale of late-in-life love. The book, first published in 2011, was a best-seller in the U.K. The year Jeanie turns 60 marks a decade since her reliable but controlling husband, George, started sleeping in a separate room and refused to tell her why. Adrift in a marriage that is now more comfortable routine than partnership, she focuses instead on the health foods store she owns, outings with her frank friend Rita and play dates with her granddaughter Ellie, whom she takes to the park on Thursdays. It's there that Jeanie and Ellie meet Ray and his grandson Dylan. While the kids play, the adults feel an immediate connection, unlike what Jeanie has felt before. Soon, they are sharing life stories--each including the heartbreaking loss of a loved one--and enjoying a clandestine, burgeoning romance. When her husband decides, against Jeanie's firm protestations, that they will move to a house in the country and that she should retire and sell her store, the choice, to readers, will seem obvious. But how can Jeanie end 32 years of mostly happy marriage? Who would care for George? And though her daughter, Chanty, is no more supportive of Jeanie's desire to keep living and working in the city, Jeanie is loath to disrupt Chanty's (and Ellie's) life with such a thing as divorce. Even Rita, who initially encourages a full-fledged affair, citing the improvement in Jeanie's life since meeting Ray, cautions her against abandoning a stable marriage. When none of these prove reason enough to ignore potential happiness with Ray, a revelation takes the decision out of Jeanie's hands, at least for a while. A subplot involving Chanty and her surly artist husband is the least subtle of the obstacles facing Jeanie and Ray, but it adds good dramatic spice and satisfyingly prolongs the outcome. Boyd's delicate rendering of Jeanie's interior grounds the novel, and readers will root for her to finally get her own. A poignant love story featuring refreshing characters in their 60s.

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September 1, 2013

As it shot to the top of the Amazon ebook charts in Britain, Boyd's debut novel was labeled by the UK press as the start of a new genre of "granny lit." At its most basic level, this book is about a marriage and whether it can survive when the sexual attraction has died. Jeanie and George haven't had sex in ten years, and George seems to be fine with that fact. Jeanie is not. At first she was hurt and angered by George's rejection, but after a decade she's become resigned. She now runs a successful organic foods business and adores spending time with her two-year-old granddaughter at the park, where she meets Ray, who's there with his own grandson. As Jeanie and Ray get to know each other, the mutual attraction is more than obvious. But Jeanie is torn. How do you end a 30-year marriage, even one that only has residual affection left? Jeanie grapples with her feelings for Ray and with the pain that their relationship will cause. VERDICT Whether it's the start of a new genre or not, this is a mostly successful exploration of second chances and love at any age. Jeanie and Ray's romance is nicely done, but the narrative does bog down within Jeanie's indecision, which, while realistic, becomes a bit repetitive. Readers of Barbara Delinsky and Jeanne Ray will be charmed.--Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2013
Jeanie Lawson runs a modestly successful health food store in London and has been married for more than 30 years. Her husband, George, is looking forward to retiring to the country, but as Jeanie turns 60, she's not quite ready to be put out to pasture. Plus, moving to the country would mean less time with her granddaughter, Ellie, whom she takes to the park once a week while Ellie's difficult artist father prepares for an exhibition. On those Thursdays in the park, she meets Ray, who is there with his grandson, Dylan. After the first few awkward meetings, Jeanie and Ray begin to form a connection beyond their grandchildren. As her marriage crumbles under George's determination to sell Jeanie's shop and moveand his failure to stiff-upper-lip away past traumaJeanie is far too tempted by Ray. This first novel is heartfelt without being angst-ridden and full of likable characters (even the unlikable ones warm up), and readers of women's fiction will relate to Jeanie. A warm, tender novel about a woman finally finding a place of her own.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)