Just Between us
Cathy Kelly
Downtown, Jan 2006, $15.00
ISBN: 0743490266

In Kinvarra, Ireland, Rose and Hugh Miller are about to celebrate their fortieth wedding anniversary. The parents are especially proud of each of their adult daughters who will join them for a gala to mark the event. Stella, a single mom, is a successful lawyer; Tara has done well as a soap opera writer and recently married; her youngest Holly seems happy with an artistic life. Everything seems perfect for the Miller brood as they prepare for the ruby wedding party.

However the matriarch does not see her world through rose colored glasses. She has some doubts about spending her golden years with Hugh. Stella is brilliant at law and even as a mom, but feels lonely as the love of her life has never surfaced; Tara is doing great at the job, but the love of her life appears to be a drunk; Holly may be the envy of everyone due to her free lifestyle, but in reality is bored yet fears making any changes. These four females will bond even more so over the course of the festivities.

This is a tremendous family drama as the four females through asides and discussions reveal that they reveal doubts about their so-called perfect worlds. Each feels they suffer from a major failure at something significant yet also knows that they share a sisterly bond (including one with the matriarch) that helps each cope with their personal crisis not solving them only surviving their troubles and misgivings. Readers will find this book a powerful and realistic character study.

Harriet Klausner