Blurb
A
passion for books creates a lasting bond between teenage Patty Jo and
David, but small-town prejudice and social differences doom their
romance.
After
a summer of reading and falling in love, David heads for university,
foreign adventure, and a dazzling career; Patty Jo marries slick,
over-confident Don Ried.
Yet
plans can go horribly wrong. The victim of her violent husband, Patty
Jo abandons her home and children to live on the streets of Toronto.
David, a high-ranking executive in Paris, is dismayed by the
superficiality of corporate success.
Forty
years later, Patty Jo and David meet again. Both have defied society;
both have fulfilled their dreams. And what if first love was the
right one after all, and destiny has the last word?
Excerpt
Then
he sees her. Way over there, sitting by the edge of the grit
shoreline, chin in one hand, staring out at the lake’s far side. No
sign of the louts she usually hangs around with. She’s alone. Will
he go talk to her? Dare break into her peace?
Of
course he will. He’s a moth drawn to her dazzling light, although
he knows there’s a chance of disappointment. He’ll say something;
she’ll answer like a townie, in that bold, vulgar way of townie
girls. And the fascination will end. It will be over. Goodbye, good
riddance to fantasy.
She
doesn’t turn at his approach, probably doesn’t hear the crunch of
loafers on pebbles. Obviously, she’s off in a dream, a daydream, a
memory, some cosmos that doesn’t include David William Preston
Buckley Jr. Without thinking, he sits beside her, crosses his legs.
“You
like the lake?”
See?
It’s that easy. You don’t hesitate, just plop down, say something
banal. Then wonder if she’ll jump to her feet, scram.
She
turns, and the bruised-looking, insolent eyes meet his. Defiantly.
Unfriendly, yes, but with that touch of curiosity that doesn’t
quite discourage. Then, looks away again. No words. No way to
continue.
So,
he’ll stay here. Stare out at the water too. Worse comes to worst,
she’ll hiss an insult, townie-style, something like “get lost,
chump,” and he’ll keep on sitting, puppy-love fool, bum aching on
the sharp cement-drab stones. It will be a humiliation, true, but not
a deadly one—a put-you-in-your-place rebuff that you get over soon
enough.
Review
by Lisabet Sarai
Teen-aged
Patty Jo doesn’t just come from the wrong side of the tracks. Her
home environment is a living hell. Forced by
her abusive family to hand
over her salary from the greasy spoon
diner where she works after school, as
well as to do all the housework in the
broken-down
shack they all share,
she has little time or energy for dreams. Still, there’s some spark
in her, a yearning for another kind of life. Books are her escape, a
defense against her
bleak, painful reality.
Books
are the first bond between Patty Jo and her intellectual
classmate David. Though they come from
different worlds, David is irresistibly drawn to the slender, shy,
yet defiant young woman
he sees sitting by the lake. Gradually he manages to break down her
barriers. Little by little, they build
a love that bridges the vast social gap
between them. When they are together, everything feels right and
anything seems possible.
But
teenage passion is as transient as it is intense.
Forced by family, expectations and
circumstances to part, they go their separate ways. Each one
experiences pain, disappointment and loneliness. As they age,
however, they
make choices that bring them closer to their true selves. And when
they finally meet again – forty years after the first flush of
their love – they rediscover,
against all odds,
that same
marvelous sense of connection that originally brought them together.
Words
for Patty Jo is labeled as women’s
fiction, not romance. I understand this decision on the part of the
author. For most of the book, the protagonists are living lives apart
from one another. Both Patty Jo and David are involved in other
relationships. Indeed, Patty Jo is twice married and has children.
This doesn’t fit the standard romance template, where the focus
remains fixed on the growing bond
between the hero and heroine as they struggle against internal or
external obstacles.
The
time span of the novel also violates romance conventions. Very few
romance tales allow their protagonists to grow old.
Still,
I found this an extremely romantic book as well as a splendid example
of the “second chance” romance trope. The ending provides a deep
feeling of satisfaction while remaining realistic and plausible.
Patty
Jo is a fascinating and complicated
character, in some ways not at all admirable. She’s sneaky and
deceptive. She abandons her children, a horrific crime in the view of
some people. Using her sexuality as a weapon, she takes advantage of
others, especially men. At the same time, the reader can’t help but
admire her grit and her determination to survive. You feel that she
deserves happiness and despite her less-than-perfect behavior, you
want her to achieve it.
David
is less fully realized; perhaps one should expect this from "women’s
fiction" penned by a female author. Still, his journey
offers an illuminating contrast to Patty Jo’s. Affluent,
intelligent and well-educated,
he gradually discards the trappings of
his privileged upbringing and builds a
simpler, more authentic life. Unlike
Patty Jo, his struggles are mostly internal, not external.
One
of the most impressive aspects of this novel, for me, was the shift
in the characters’ perspectives as they age. Like me, Jill Arlene
Culiner has lived a long time. I think she remembers what it’s like
to be a teen as well as how her
decisions,
wise or not, played out as
the decades unrolled. The love between
Patty Jo and David has evolved, as they have. It
is an old person’s love – but still wondrous.
All
in all, I adored this book. Patty Jo is very different from me, but I
was pulled into her life and her battles.
While I was reading, they felt vividly real. And when she finally
reconnects
with her long-ago lover,
I could only rejoice.
About
the Author
Writer,
artist, and teller of tall tales, Jill (J.) Arlene Culiner, was born
in New York and raised in Toronto. She has crossed much of Europe on
foot, has lived on the Great Hungarian Plain, in a Bavarian castle, a
Turkish cave dwelling, and a haunted house on the English moors. She
now resides in a 400-year-old former inn in a French village where
she protects spiders, snakes, and weeds. She delights in hearing any
nasty, funny, ridiculous, or romantic story, and when she can’t
uncover gossip, she makes it up.
She
has won the Tanenbaum Prize in Canadian Jewish History, the 2024
Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Memoir, was shortlisted for the
Foreword Magazine Prize, and twice for the Page Turner Awards.
http://www.j-arleneculiner.com
https://www.jill-culiner.com
All
Links: https://linktr.ee/j.arleneculiner
Storytelling:
https://soundcloud.com/j-arlene-culiner
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/jculiner
Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7158064.J_Arlene_Culiner
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/jarlene.culiner/
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@JArleneCuliner
Jill
Arlene Culiner will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a
randomly drawn winner.
