The Old Place by Bobby Finger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I loved the time I spent with The Old Place. This is the story of Mary Alice and Ellie and Josie, all of whom live in a small town in Texas (Billington.) Ellie and Mary Alice live next door to each other and are best friends (both are also single moms of children who’ve died.) Josie is the New Yorker wife of a Billington resident who comes back home to take over his family’s business and she takes a job being a schoolteacher after Mary Alice (unwillingly) retires.
There are several other lovely and interesting and textured characters but most of the story revolves around these three women and you can’t help but fall in love with them, as flawed as they are. Even though Mary Alice wasn’t a likable character, I still found myself caring about her and wanting things to work out for her. You can tell that she hasn’t had it easy.
This story is about family, small towns, sisterhood, friendship and so much more. I loved every second I spent with it.
with gratitude to netgalley and Penguin Putnam for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
Leave a Reply