The Dearly Departed

By Elinor Lipman

Hmmm… I do not know where to start with this one… I found the story very confusing with too many characters and a storyline that skipped from here to there in no time. It is not hilarious and funny, like some reviews have stated, but there are bits and pieces that will make you smile. On the positive side, it is an easy and quick read, it is entertaining although not very memorable, unfortunately.

The story begins when Sunny Batten returns to the small town of King George, New Hampshire, and to the ramshackle grey bungalow on the edge of the country club’s golf course where her mother, Margaret Batten, raised Sunny by herself. Her mother has just died of carbon monoxide poisoning in a freak accident with Margaret’s alleged fiancé, Miles Finn. While at the funeral, Sunny catches her first glimpse of Miles Finn’s son, Fletcher, and as Sunny and Fletcher sit together at the graveside it is difficult not to notice the resemblance between Sunny and Fletcher, both having the same kind of wispy, shiny, prematurely grey hair.

King George is full of surprises and for Sunny bitter memories of her childhood comes flooding back when seeing her high school golfing team mates (all boys) again. She is also embarrassed when discovering that her mother’s new midlife hobby had been acting. Home for the first time since high school, Sunny finds herself reassessing the place. She learns that her mother had blossomed from a divorced wallflower to a much-admired amateur actress in King George’s local theatre troupe, and thus the object of widespread affection. However, in spite of past grievances Sunny’s return to King George proves that one can go home again, and her grief segues into pleasant alliances with the townspeople, as Sunny becomes re-acquainted with Joey Loach, who spent most of his high school years in detention but has now become the town’s heroic police chief; Emil Ouimet, the town physician who wears his love for Margaret on his sleeve, and Randy Pope, the golf-team-captain-turned-respectable-lawyer.

In the end, all loose ends are neatly tied up and all single characters are suitably paired, and Sunny finds a possible new half-brother in Fletcher.