From Publishers Weekly
Three months after moving to Portland, Maine, for her husband Paul's job, Sophie begins worrying about her quiet life, her "safe" marriage and, particularly, Natalie, the snappy new assistant in her husband's office. Calls to her happily married sister, Delia, and her long-time friend, Marta, don't assuage her concerns, but Sophie, a freelance artist and proofreader with time on her hands, finds companionship by joining a local walking club. In a captivating tale, Bartolomeo (
Cupid and Diana) combines Anne Tyler's brand of trenchant domestic observation with a comic flair all her own (Sophie's know-it-all mother-in-law, Pepper, is "good for twenty more years. She wasn't the sort who succumbed early to cancer or heart attacks—she was the sort who caused them in those around her"). Sophie finds a kindred spirit in Ned, another member of the walking group, who offers to give her driving lessons, and Bartolomeo delicately charts the course of their developing rapport amid Sophie's troubled marriage and Ned's long-distance relationship with a girlfriend. Bartolomeo offers rare insight into friendship and romance in this sweetly poignant page-turner, leaving readers rooting for Sophie, her newfound confidence and the future that awaits her around the next bend.
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From Booklist
Warm-blooded Sophie Quinn has moved from temperate Washington, D.C., to the great white north of Portland, Maine, where her husband, Paul, has a new job. A freelancer, she is stuck in their freezing apartment while her husband goes to work singing the praises of his female colleague. Sophie has made a to-do list of self-improvements because her life and marriage are at a standstill, and it includes "get more exercise," so she joins a walking group started by Stephen, a gregarious gay man she meets at the local coffee shop. The reticent Sophie enjoys the group, especially Ned, with whom she grows close. As Sophie's marriage deteriorates, her appreciation for Portland and the people she meets increases, which helps her gain confidence in herself and gives direction in her life, much to the relief of her highly amusing family and friends. Readers will be drawn to the entertaining characters in this heartwarming story about self-discovery and the triumph of the meek over the aggressively ambitious.
Patty EngelmannCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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