The Way We Were

I have not read the book yet, but anticipate that I will thoroughly enjoy it, as I have loved all other books by this author.

At first I felt it was definitely not her best work, however when I re-read it I liked it better.

I loved it, it takes a story that has sad elements and makes it happy..I read alot, and don't like depressing stories..I don't want to close the book and be depressed...it was just a great book...i intend to read other books by this author.

Marcia Willett, with her special talent for not only creating compassionate female characters but also depicting the English countryside, gives readers one of her best stories to date in THE WAY WE WERE. Julia and Tiggy are such fully developed characters that I was extremely sad to bid them farewell. Their story, heartwarming and heart wrenching, begins with Tiggy, alone and pregnant after the accidental death of her boyfriend, coming to Julia for support. It is remarkable in its emotional pull and its reaffirmation that family is sometimes determined by more than bloodlines. Their special friendship manifests itself in a most surprising way as Tiggy gives birth to a son who will unite the two friends in a stronger way than they ever planned. Weaving between 1976 and 2004, this multi-generational tale is Willett at her best, exploring the devotion of friends, romantic pairings, and choices that have rippling effects for years into the future. Willett also gives us two of her most despicable antagonists in the diabolical Angela and her equally loathsome daughter Cat. Balancing them out is Liv, Julia's effervescent daughter, who grows into a loving woman with an admirable moral compass. Fans of cozy English novels will be charmed by this one and no doubt hope to see some of these characters resurface in a later novel, as Willett has a delightful penchant for doing this very thing.

In the late 1970s in Cornwall, England, pregnant Tiggy, still grieving the loss of the father of her unborn, arrives at the home of her best friend Julia. Kindhearted naval wife, Julia takes her pal into her home where she already raises three children while her spouse is mostly at sea as a naval officer. After Tiggy gives birth, she and her son Zack remain in Julia's home as part of the extended family. In 2004, as Zack waits for the birth of his first offspring, Julia looks back on her life. She still is irate with her husband for his affair with her enemy Angela while Tiggy tries to help her move on. Meanwhile Julia worries about her daughter Liv pining and whining how she left the love of her life marry someone else. This epic family drama looks deep into the friendship between two women who are always there but especially help each other through traumatic situations; of which there is a ton. The story line gracefully moves through the three decades highlighting major events and enabling the reader to understand the prime players. However, the women are female Jobs suffering from so many traumas that none of the cast members come across as fully real. Harriet Klausner