The Prodigal Wife

January 4, 2010
In this gentle, charming novel of indiscretion, grudges, love and mortality, two middle-aged couples reunite late in life following long separation and marriages to others. As the children of these first marriages fall in love, they draw everyone together again, including a couple of trouble-making ex-spouses. With so much deferred love-involving infidelity, divorce, traumatized kids, wasted years, and more-there is much to be emotional about, and the latest from British novelist Willett (The Way We Were) is chiefly engaged in rehashing these feelings endlessly. For all the introspection, however, there is a lack of nuance-characters' emotional self-exploration is more prolific than profound. Still, a generally likable cast outweighs their emotional transparency, and the plot clicks along with pleasant, cathartic rhythms and an intriguing mystery subplot.