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June 24, 2008 10:30 AM

RICHARD AND JUDY SUMMER READS 2008: The Private Lives of Pippa Lee by Rebecca Miller

Reviewed by Sarah Hague

How many of us have led a blameless life, or have a past unsullied by the slightest hint of something dodgy?

Pippa Lee is the 50-year-old wife of successful book editor Herb who is thirty years her senior and getting frail. They leave their fabulous house and move into a housing complex for the old and infirm. Pippa, by far the youngest inhabitant, finds herself wondering what she is doing there.

In the upheaval and unsettling effect the move has on her, she reflects on her life - her speed-crazed mother, her dissolute youth, her meeting with Herb, her husband, and the stabling effect of the birth of the twins.

The move from contented wife of a successful publisher with all the comforts and social standing that brought, to member of a dying community, nursemaid to her husband, destabilizes her completely. Strange things start happening to her and she meets the odd son of her neighbour who stretches out an angel's wing of compassion and understanding.

Pippa is woman who has spent her life trying to come to terms with who she is and what she is. Many women will recognise her efforts to fit in to her expectations of what motherhood and marriage entail; her desire to be the perfect wife and mother.

Her marriage to Herb is founded on a tragedy and she lives, unknowingly, with the guilt until a second tragedy finally sets her free. Suddenly she realises she doesn't have to pretend any more, can be the person she wants to be, and has the courage to accept and forgive herself.

A fabulous read - complex, compassionate, and beautifully written. Pippa is a modern heroine - flawed, yet kind and loving. A woman for our times.

Rating: 4/5

Like this? Try A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

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Posted by Aigua Media on June 24, 2008 in American Authors, Rating: 4/5, Richard and Judy | Permalink

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