Joan Clark. THE BIRTHDAY LUNCH. Knopf, 2015.
Fourth selection for the book club. Maritime writer; set in Sussex, New Brunswick. Lily is run over by a speeding truck as she returns to her sister's car carrying 2 strawberry ice cream cones. The family rallies--her husband Hal, an antiques dealer; their children Claudia, a librarian, and Matt, a lawyer; the sister Laverne, a high school teacher who lives down stairs. Details of the complexity of arrangements, the checklist. The return of the lost brother. The secret lover. Past mistakes. A surprising love. The conflict centres around the competition between husband and the mean-spirited sister-in-law, which concludes on the final page. Laverne has renovated her suite in the shared house to copy a favourite Dutch Master painting. Too much insignificant detail for my taste, but I enjoy the crafting of story around ordinary lives.
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