Jane Green

Known in Nantucket as the crazy woman who lives in the rambling house atop the bluff, Nan doesn’t care what people think. At sixty-five-years old, her husband died twenty years ago, her beauty has faded, and her family has flown. If her neighbors are away, why shouldn’t she skinny dip in their swimming pools and help herself to their flowers? But when she discovers the money she thought would last forever is dwindling and she could lose her beloved house, Nan knows she has to make drastic changes.

So Nan takes out an ad: Rooms to rent for the summer in a beautiful old Nantucket home with water views and direct access to the beach. Slowly, people start moving into the house, filling it with noise, with laughter, and with tears. As the house comes alive again, Nan finds her family expanding. Her son comes home for the summer, and then an unexpected visitor turns all their lives upside-down.

Plot:

Ellie and Dan are living proof that opposites attract. He always follows instructions and she throws the manual away. He loves sports whereas Ellie’s allergic to any form of exercise. Ellie doesn’t have a mother. And Dan does – a mother who wants to take over? EVERYTHING.   At first Ellie is thrilled to have Linda as her adopted’mother and to be a part of the close, loving Cooper family. But when she and Dan decide to get married and wedding plans progress, she starts to wonder: is it normal for Linda and Dan to speak on the phone twice a day? How on earth do they come to be having a reception with Chilean bloody seabass and humongous bloody white ribbons tied everywhere when all she wanted was a quiet registry office? In fact, is she marrying Dan?  OR HIS MOTHER?  And Ellie’s problems have just begun. When she discovers she’s pregnant she realises that Linda’s only been rehearsing for the real takeover. She seems to want to live her life through Ellie and in the words of the immortal Princess Diana, there are three of them in the marriage?

Review:

THE OTHER WOMAN will have one laughing at, but also at times commiserating with, both Ellie and Linda. And, as usual, Green does a wonderful job creating real characters who the reader will relate to or, at the very least, enjoy reading about. She is great at producing stories that revolve around relationships — whether it is between a man and a woman, or just friends — and telling the story of a relationship, from beginning to end, complete with all the nuances and intricacies that only the most attentive person will notice. And while it is up to the reader to find out whether or not Dan and Ellie find their “happy ever after,” most people will be assured that any novel by Green will be worth reading. (Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton)

Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd (May 19, 2005)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 014029595X
ISBN-13: 978-0140295955

Shipping weight: 363g

This book is in a good condition with gentle spine creases and slight scuffing on edges.