A much-anticipated change when life should turn tranquil instead may trigger a marriage-testing monsoon. Even worse, maybe there’s no such thing as smooth sailing into the sunset. This warning ripples below the surface in Second Honeymoon (2007, Black Swan, 383 pages), Joanna Trollope’s sensitive novel about a family in crisis.
Edie Boyd, a full-time mother and part-time actress, laments the prospect of an “empty nest” as Ben, age 22, the last of her three problem-prone children, finally leaves home. But Edie’s husband Russell looks forward to enjoying more of his wife’s attention, even to a “second honeymoon”.
Time marches on, as do human lives. Russell tells his wife: “Wait, just wait. Rosa’s not going to ride that trike again, Matt’s not going to hit with that bat, you’re not going to read under that lampshade. That’s not comfortable, that’s not easy to know, to have to accept. But we have to, because we have no choice. ”
But Edie resists the new reality, trying to plug the gaps in her life. Her husband’s company and that of Arsie, a pet cat, fail to satisfy her: “If you don’t have any nuisance in your life, I’ve discovered, something dies in you. It all gets very bland and boring.”
Empty rooms in the Boyd home don’t stay that way. Alas, “When you go back somewhere, it’s not the same….”
Trollope, from London, keenly observes the foibles of family life. Her earlier novels include: A Passionate Man, Next of Kin, Other People’s Children, Marrying the Mistress and Brother and Sister.
In Second Honeymoon, she builds realistic characters, each flawed but worthy of interest and sympathy. Romantic and career mishaps hitting the Boyd children keep the plot lively. But the author’s efforts to add amusing moments succeed only sometimes. Most readers will react with occasional wry smiles.
Edie’s distress may seem exaggerated, yet real-life mothers with similar woes should understand. “I just wanted to keep everything safe. I just wanted to make everything all right for all of them. I wanted to be back in control of things....”
There’s a tough lesson to learn: “Going on is hard, but going back would be a whole lot worse.”
Approval rating: 61 per cent.
For more information: www.booksattransworld.co.uk or www.joannatrollope.com
(August 10, 2008)
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