Ladder of Years - Anne Tyler

Wow, this is an amazing book, I had to pick 4 books for an online book group I belong to and this was one someone recommended to me so I thought why not suggest it, then we all voted for the one we wanted to read the most and this book won. This book starts off in a supermarket where Delia, the main character, is propositioned by a man, Adrian, he wants her to pretend that she is his girlfriend, because his estranged wife is there with her new bloke, she doesn't hesitate for a second - it could make this shopping trip more exciting, was what she was thinking. Delia has a husband, Sam or Dr. Grinstead, and three teenage children, they all live in her ...

“BALTIMORE WOMAN DISAPPEARS DURING FAMILY VACATION … Witnesses of her departure [her family] … reported that to the best of their recollection she simply strolled away. Authorities do not suspect drowning, since Mrs. Grinstead avoided swimming whenever possible and professed a distinct aversion to water. In fact, her sister Eliza Felson, 52, has alleged to reporters that the missing woman ‘may have been a cat in her most recent incarnation’.” I wanted to open with that quote from Ladder of Years for a number of reasons. Firstly, the novel opens with that passage – a newspaper report about the disappearance of Delia ...