As If Love Were Enough

I finished this novel three nights ago, and the relationships between the characters are still ruminating around in my head. I truly enjoyed the story and hope for a sequel.

She's wise, witty and perspicacious - all in equal measure. No sugar coating of desires or emotions for this author, Anne Taylor Fleming tells her story very much as she delivers her television essays - honestly and realistically. The dialogue is sharp and the scenes are touchingly authentic, all of which add up to a thought provoking tale touching on contemporary issues and eons old affairs of the heart. At the age of 41 Claire, who narrates, finds her life not at all as she thought it might be. As a matter of fact, she is doing not only what she never intended to do but what she once might have said she would never do. She is in love with and having an affair with a married man. This is what she describes as "the route of sure pain." Further, if you are single, as she is, "it is to settle for a half-life." She exists in a netherworld of mistresses where "there must be delicacy." Should there be scenes, he might just go away. There was no indication early on that this would be her situation. She was thought of as the more mature, reliable sister. Louise was the unpredictable one. But then the sisters have been estranged for 25 years - until now. Louise's sudden reappearance is puzzling. It takes the two a while to even have a civil conversation at which point Claire learns that Louise is seeking a liver transplant for her teenage son, a Christian evangelist and the nephew Claire did not even know she had. Fleming explains the sister's relationship with a flashback to the `60s when their actress mother left their father, a screenwriter. The girls were devastated as the family they once knew no longer existed. This searing childhood experience has impacted each one of them in different ways, not drawing the sisters together but instead distancing them. Now, is it possible for the women to reconcile, to forgive? - Gail Cooke

loved it.. smart and heartfelt, and the surprises run all the way to the last page.. i passed up game two of suns-mavs to finish it.. no higher praise..

Anne Taylor Fleming's way with word shines through this novel, making it a pleasure to savor each sentence along with the intriguing plot. Her eye for detail and mood is especially moving in the evocation of the main character's childhood. Lovely!

absolutely love it! a real page turner. beautifully written.