What We're Reading: Rita

The Widower's Tale: A Novel by Julia Glass





The newest title from the National Book Award-winning novelist (for Three Junes). The widower of the title is Percy Darling, a 70-year-old retired Harvard librarian. When the curmudgeonly Percy uncharacteristically offers the use of his barn to the local alternative preschool, he finds his life changing dramatically. To say that Percy has been living a quiet life for the past 30 years is an understatement; he has been a virtual social recluse since the death of his wife, whose dance studio in the barn he has preserved as a kind of shrine. But as Percy opens his barn to the Elves & Fairies school, he finds himself opening up as well. He leaves the huge historic house he's been rattling around in for the past several years for his new routine of a daily run through town and, as he meets new people and renews old acquaintances, is surprised (and often outraged) at how much has changed.





The characters are an intriguing bunch, and there are a lot of them. The main players are Percy's two daughters, who are polar opposites; his grandson Robert and his friend Turo, both Harvard students; his new (after 30 years) love interest Sarah, whose son is an Elves & Fairies student; Ira, a new teacher at the school; and Celestino, an illegal immigrant who works for a local landscaping service. All of them are tied to Percy in some way, and the many plots they're involved in make this a complex, but ultimately satisfying read. Ms. Glass is an exceptional writer, and her descriptions of both the people and the settings in this New England-based novel are lovely.