Up Island

From childhood, Molly Bell Redwine was taught by her charismatic, domineering mother that "family is everything." But no one warned Molly that family can change unexpectedly. In rapid succession, her husband of more than twenty years abandons her for a younger woman, her mother dies, and her Atlanta clan scatters to the four winds. Molly is set adrift in a heartbeat.

With her old world crumbling, Molly takes refuge with a friend on Martha's Vineyard, hoping to come to terms with who she truly is. When the summer season ends, Molly decides to stay on, renting a small cottage on a remote up-island pond—becoming part of an odd, new, very real family that taxes her old outworn notions. And as the long Vineyard winter approaches, Molly braces herself for the arduous task she must undertake: a search for renewal and identity, and the strength to carry her through to the warm and healing spring.

A capable, well-born Atlanta woman struggles to find a place for herself in the isolation and stark beauty of a New England island after a devastating divorce and her mother's sudden death.

Anne Rivers Siddons's 12th novel, Up Island, can be taken on many levels. It is about the role of the woman in today's society. It is about the shedding of the antiquated conservative ideal of the family unit. It is about searching, self-discovery, and the triumph of the human spirit. These feelings are difficult to put into words, but Siddons handles the task deftly and delivers a story that is able to convey all of these intangible components beautifully.

Siddons introduces us to her complacent heroine, Molly Redwine, a loyal wife and mother. Can a person be too loyal? Perhaps, for when her husband announces that he is leaving her for a younger woman, Molly's whole life is completely and irrevocably shattered. Certainly not an unexpected reaction, except that Molly does not have anything else. She was her family. Her situation is unfortunately and intensely exacerbated by the sudden death of her mother, and she naturally begins to feel bitter and vindictive. Her only satisfaction is not granting her husband a quick divorce, but this only does more harm to Molly's fragile psyche. She decides she must get away.

Molly's close friend Livvy invites her for a time to Martha's Vineyard. Molly decides to stay in these lush surroundings and not return to the unhappiness awaiting her at home in Atlanta. Is she running away from her problems? No...she is running away from her former self, a person who was not really her. She manages to secure a job as caretaker of the Ponder household: Bella; her female companion, Luz; Dennis, Bella's seriously ill son; and a pair of swans who live on the nearby pond. Molly's father, still grieving the loss of his wife, eventually joins them, and an interesting surrogate family begins to form. You probably have, at some point, read those statistics that say the average American family consists of a man, a woman, and 2.5 children and wondered what relevance that has, considering the complexity of current relationships. As Siddons says, "A family is any group that comes together in love and commitment."

While reading Up Island, you will appreciate Siddons's skill with the English language and her ability to tell an intriguing story, but mostly, you will cherish. You will cherish the fact that you are a thinking, feeling human being with all your achievements and all your failures, appreciating both as a part of your soul and realizing that sometimes out of the most dire and depressing circumstances can come the greatest achievement -- love.

Library Journal

A woman whose family has fallen apart finds refuge on Martha's Vineyard, caring for others as a means of finding herself.

Anne Rivers Siddons' books are firmly rooted in the culture of the modern South, but ultimately fans love her books because they portray -- with compassion and truth -- women who transcend the difficulties of love, friendship and growing up.