Reviewed by Ann McCauley
Posted on: October 15, 2022
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In 1974, disillusioned 34 year-old Polly works as a picture editor in the Illustrations Department for Encyclopedia Britannica. Her older, twice-divorced, live-in boyfriend is on an extended assignment in Saigon covering life after the American troop withdrawal. He rarely calls or writes. He treats her in a condescending manner, as do her supervisor and most of her co-workers. The supervisor informs the entire department at their weekly Tuesday meeting that their department will be closing in seven months. Polly has no money saved. This was not the life she planned.
The news coincides with a visit from a college friend. Polly is shocked to see the changes in her friend, who has metastasized cancer and has not mentioned it in any of their conversations. Polly begins reminiscing about 1962 and reveling in self-pity. They were fresh out of college, and Polly wanted to be a documentary film maker. She was working on a crew doing a documentary at the Starlight Lodge about Mr. Watkins, the reclusive elderly owner and resident. His two elderly sons were always lurking about. Polly refused to allow anything to keep her down, though her dream job as go-for on the documentary film ends in bitter disappointment.
A mysterious letter adds intrigue as Polly researches origin and meaning.
The novel’s theme is Polly’s evolving maturity and confidence as she deals with ending her long-distance relationship with her faraway boyfriend, the loss of her best friend, the loss of her first best job at Encyclopedia Britannica, and the disappointment of the first documentary being abandoned before completion. A mystery develops regarding why Mr. Watkins bequeathed the beautiful Starlight Lodge to a local handyman, rather than his two adult sons. The reader can’t help cheering for Polly as she fulfills her lifelong ambition by redoing their earlier documentary of the Starlight Lodge. This story stays with the reader long after finishing the last page.
