Another Life

I loved this book so much. I read it in 3 hours. I cried a lot too. It is poignant and sad, but such a beautiful story.

Another Life opens in Cornwall on a farm that has been in the family for generations. The husband is not appreciative of his wife, but he is a hard working farmer, and a conventional country husband. His wife is a young woman who found herself on the farm because she was running away from a life that was far worse than the farm, its steady work, and her husband's failings. The young wife comes to adore her mother-in-law, who teaches her the restoration of art objects. Eventually the young wife overtakes the abilities of the mother-in-law, and receives offers to restore art that lead her into another life, far from the farm. How she negotiates the life beyond the farm is the center of this story. She is offered the restoration of an old ship's figurehead that has a riveting story behind its creation. That story interweaves with the story of the young restorer whose life is transforming her, as it is transforming others, and as she is transforming the figurehead. Not to give too much away, but a Canadian historian who is interested in the figurehead enters the restorer's life and changes it in more ways than most novels can manage artfully. I found myself moved by the plight of the young restorer as she found herself handling divided loyalties to her family and Cornwall, her lover, and to her art, and what she must do when "another life" starts to come apart.