Three
Days in June, by Anne Tyler.
Anne
Tyler is a treasure. She has been nominated for or has received
every prestigious literary prize the world has to offer, and her genius comes
not from telling great sagas about world-shattering subjects, but the everyday
dramas that beset us all – which is another reason why she’s so popular: she writes about thee and me.
Starting
with Gail Baines, assistant headmistress at an elite Girls’ Private school in
Baltimore, Maryland: she is having a bad
day because her Boss has just informed her that she will no longer be needed as
her assistant for various reasons, not least of which is that her people-skills
are lacking; sometimes, telling a parent
that ‘Good God, their daughter will never have the slightest chance of getting
into Princeton on those marks’ is not
what they want, or need to hear: the Boss has found a replacement for Gail,
necessitating in the last, desperate grand gesture from the person with no
people-skills: ‘I quit!’
Which
gives Gail a certain bitter satisfaction, but she’s 61 years old. What’s she going to do for income? And it is her daughter Debbie’s wedding
rehearsal and dinner tonight, followed by the wedding and reception tomorrow – what
should be Gail’s proudest day for her daughter has been blighted.
And
the situation does not improve with the arrival of her ex-husband Max, looking
like a bundle of old clothes – he doesn’t even have a suit for his daughter’s
wedding! – and a request to stay at her house for the three days of festivities. He has also brought with him an elderly cat
‘which he thought she might like’ for he has been working in an animal shelter
and the cat’s ancient owner has just died. Could this day get any worse?
Of
course it could, with her daughter’s revelation in a phone call to her mum that
a secret has been inadvertently been revealed by the Groom’s sister that very
morning, necessitating in much soul-searching about cancelling the whole thing
or bravely going ahead. What advice to give, and would anyone listen? The only one seemingly unaffected is the cat,
who has found Gail’s bed and is not giving it up. She is silent on the subject, but she (and
Max) are ever hopeful,
Yet
again Anne Tyler delights and charms us in this lovely little novella of
relationships old and new, showing thee and me that face value sometimes
doesn’t have that much worth, and that taking a risk (sometimes!) can achieve
the contentment to which we all aspire. FIVE STARS.
