The Four Seasons [Paperback]

The four Season sisters, Jillian, Robin (called Birdie), Rosie and Meredith (Merry) are a literary example of how blood really is thicker than water.

The sisters, different in temperament and interest were the daughters of a high powered judge and an alcoholic mother. Jillian, b. 1955 is the rebel, the runaway. She has an affair at 16 and a child at 17. She is taken to a Catholic maternity home where she is forced to relinquish the custody of her daughter, b. 5/17/73.

Birdie is the high powered doctor. A driven woman, she takes charge of everything and everybody. Her 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, a fat, insecure girl resents being ordered around and so does her long suffering husband, Dennis.

Rose is the caretaker, the homebody. She remains in the family home to care for their retarded sister, Merry. A near drowing episode in a pool at 2 cost Merry the full use of her lungs and mind. Her sisters carried a guilt complex over her condition.

The story opens with Merry's death. The family attorney, a truly wonderful man makes a video of Merry prior to her death when she states that she wants to find "Spring," the name she gave Jillian's daughter. Spring, the one season that none of the Season sisters was born in. Spring, the time of births and beginnings.

The three surviving sisters confront old family demons and with the help of their angel of a lawyer, embark on a quest to find Jillian's daughter.

This wonderful story is about forgiveness, acceptance and a whole fresh beginning. Birdie is able to reconcile with her husband, daughter and sisters; Jillian, the alcoholic model, the rebel is finally more grounded and Rose, the caretaker finds romance.

The story is really about births and beginnings, Springs and fresh starts. I highly recommend it.

This is the story of the four Season sisters, hence the title of the book. The youngest sister, Merry, has passed away at 32 after a long illness as the book begins. As the remaining sisters convene at the family's aging Victorian house, all their long-time hurts, dreams, failures and successes are almost palpable as each grieves in her own way. It sounds like a million other books of this type, but a different twist makes it all brand new, and very interesting.

That is the search for the illegitimate daughter of Jilly, the sister who went on to become a top model in Paris, and a minor celebrity. It turns out that at age 17, she was shunted off to a strict Catholic home for unwed mothers, and forced by circumstances, the time in which she lived, her unyielding parents, and the nuns themselves to give up her baby without being allowed to hold or see it. That momentous situation, it turns out, has colored the lives of all the sisters--even Merry, left brain damaged after a childhood accident. Her last wish was that Jilly and the other sisters find "Spring," the name she has, in her childlike innocence, chosen for the missing Season.

This is not a deep and unforgettable book, but it is well worth reading, and simply perfect for the beach, which is where I finished reading with a long sigh and many tears. Go for it!