Marcia Willett, A Friend of the Family

A Friend of the Family

Marcia Willett

St. Martin's, Oct 2006, $13.95

ISBN: 0312306644

Felicity Mainwaring feels pretty good following the death of her naval officer husband Mark to cancer. Some might interpret that she is glad that her spouse no longer suffers, but instead Felicity expects her long time lover of two decades George Lampeter to marry her after the minimal "grieving" period. To her shock and chagrin, George begins seeing Thea though she is much younger than he is. They fall in love and marry, which sends Felicity over the edge as she refuses to accept this and tries to destroy the marriage. The kind-hearted Thea tries to be there for her new friend Polly though she has her own problems caused by the spiteful Felicity.

Meanwhile Thea's loving cousin Tim tries to help her by arranging a meeting between his future father-in law and Felicity. They begin to fall in love, but something goes awry leading to the vengeful widow's death from mixing medication with gin and plenty of guilt for those left behind to ponder if they could have done something different.

This sequel to First Friends is an interesting British relationship drama that contains an ensemble cast mostly two dimensional except for the devious seemingly over the edge Felicity and to a lesser degree Polly. The storyline starts off as a "triangle" starring Felicity, but about half way in turns into a coming of age tale headed by Polly. Fans of the author will enjoy A Friend Of The Family as Marcia Willett provides her readers with a fascinating dysfunctional cozy.

Harriet Klausner