Carrie Adams Godmother

Godmother

Carrie Adams

HarperCollins, Sep 2007, $24.95

ISBN: 9780061232602

After spending six months in India to get away from London following the settlement of a sexual harassment suit that she won, Tessa King comes home. She looks forward to seeing her friends and her godchildren. At the airport her best friend Francesca is too busy to pick her up, but sends her spouse Nick and Tessa's oldest godson teenage Caspar.

Tessa talks to her impoverished pal Billie and her second godchild, seven years old Cora; Billie refuses to accept that Cora's dad will never be there for his illegitimate daughter as he has a family of his own. She next chats with her pal Helen, mother of five month old twins who will soon be her latest godchildren; she hates Helen's spouse comedian Neil who cheats on her and has left her so despondent. Tessa also says hi to childless couples, Claudia and Al who are trying to have a child, and Ben and Sasha; Tessa is attracted to reliable Ben. Whereas her friends are somewhat jealous of Tessa's freedom and appreciate how she dotes on their offspring, Tessa is jealous of their marriages and wonders if it is time for her to marry and raise a family.

The lead protagonist is a reliable caring person who keeps the story line focused in spite of the myriad of subplots floating around and through her. The ensemble support cast contains several clearly defined characters as each of those mentioned above and others have distinct personalities. However, there are too many major strings to follow although the sum of the parts leads to a deep character study of a swinging single relooking at her values.

Harriet Klausner