Margaret Riley has enjoyed a long life, and at ninety is sometimes annoyed with the people around her, eschewing contact with most people while lost in her own memories.
So when she notices a new neighbor across the pond, she is caught off guard. The home had been empty for a while, and Margaret had come to count on that.
But she is curious about the younger woman, who has a small child, and finds out who she is in a rather surreptitious way. And arranges for them to meet when the librarian in the village points out the younger woman’s “work wanted” ad.
Jennifer Young and four-year-old Milo have left a past behind them, and hiding the secrets of that past now informs Jennifer’s life. Another mother, Megan, whose son Ben is in Milo’s preschool class, is reaching out to Jennifer. Worried about how much she can share, Jennifer is sometimes tense and often short in her responses.
Set in mountainous Sewanee, in Tennessee, the isolation could be just what each of these characters needs. But will their slowly building connection force their secrets into the open? Will each of them lose the protection of those secrets? Or will something unexpected come to them?
The New Neighbor is told alternately with multiple narrators, primarily from the first person voice of Margaret, and Jennifer’s third person perspective. Slowly we learn about each character, the lives they have lived, and what led them to keeping the secrets they now hope to keep hidden. As the secrets slowly come out, layer by layer, they seem less devastating, in some ways. Less startling.
But then, when Margaret starts to stir the pot, stepping into what is not her business, she unleashes a whole new drama that will impact all the characters.
I enjoyed Margaret and felt for her loneliness, but soon I was disgusted with her meddling. Jennifer was trying to move past the pain of her life with an addict and the betrayal of her daughter Zoe. And Zoe was probably just a typical teen, reacting without thinking.
They all had to accept the consequences of their actions.
A story that I could not put down, this one earned 5 stars from me. Recommended for all who enjoy family drama and secrets.
I received this e-ARC from NetGalley.
I remember loving this author’s first novel. This sounds really interesting – I just requested from Netgalley. Thanks for putting it on my radar!
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I was so happy to get it, and it felt like I had to wait for it forever (a couple of months). I loved reading about characters that seemed so different from one another, and yet connected at a certain level.
Hope you enjoy it, Brandie.
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This does sounds good!
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Thanks, Sheila, I really enjoyed it. Glad you could stop by.
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I don’t know how I let this one pass me by! You have made me very curious about it!
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I have been eyeing it for quite a while, but it took two months after my request to get it. I loved this one, Patty.
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Adding it to my list. I enjoyed one of her other novels and this sounds as good if not better!
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I enjoyed the other one, too; this one resonated even more with me. Thanks for stopping by, Mary.
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I am interested to know how a 90 year old stirred up problems. Glad it was a good read.
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Thanks, Nise, I enjoyed finding that out, too. What was even more amazing to me: this 90-year-old still drove her car!
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Putting it in my wish list, I thought you were going to say you disliked it because of Margaret’s meddling!
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No, actually the amount of meddling brought all the secrets to the surface…so that part was good. And I enjoyed the characters, even the meddling ones. LOL
Thanks for stopping by, Kathryn.
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