Clock Dance

Starred review from May 7, 2018
Pulitzer winner Tyler (following A Spool of Blue Thread) takes a bittersweet, hope-filled look at two quirky families that have broken apart and are trying to find their way back to one another. Plaintive Willa is the link between her own fractured Pennsylvania family—rebellious sister Elaine, long-suffering dad Melvin, and “tempestuous” and abusive mom Alice—and that of lonely Baltimore single mom Denise and her precocious, love-starved daughter, Cheryl. The novel’s first half follows Willa as she negotiates her troubled teenage years in the 1960s and her 20s and 30s in the ’70s, her reluctant marriage to college sweetheart Derek, and her late-in-life second marriage with stuffy retiree Peter. The narrative then jumps to 2017, when Willa gets a breathless call to come to Baltimore to help take care of Cheryl, the young daughter of her son’s recent ex-girlfriend, as Cheryl’s mom, Denise, recovers from a mysterious shot in the leg. There, Willa settles amiably in a neighborhood of misfits, hooligans, and steely survivors—and explores her own family miseries. The cast of sharply drawn characters dominates in ways both reflective and raucous across a series of emotional events, such as Willa’s baffling encounter with a would-be hijacker, a heartbreaking moment with her elderly dad, and the jolting advice she receives from a kindhearted doctor. It’s a stellar addition to Tyler’s prodigious catalogue. 250,000-copy announced first printing.

Narrator Kimberly Farr delivers a subtle, often wry portrayal of Willa Drake. We experience Willa's child's eye view of her parents' marriage; her own youthful marriage, motherhood, and early widowhood; and her older years as a conciliator who tries to soothe everyone, especially, Peter, husband #2. When her son's ex-girlfriend, a woman she has never met, is shot, Willa insists they fly to Baltimore to help. Farr delivers Willa's interior monologues with a wonderful combination of angst and humor; Peter, son Sean, and each of the Baltimore neighbors have distinct personalities, and Farr is a credible, precocious 9-year-old. Beautifully written and performed, Anne Tyler's novel reminds us that families come in all shapes and sizes and that not all those we call family are bound to us by biology. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine