Francine River published in 1999. Leota's Garden is a wholesome, throoughly human tale by this author who has always written decent stories. I had this on my "To Read" shelf for sometime having purchased it at a book sale. It only topok me two weeks of evening reading to get through its 423 pages with some heart jerking teary spots. Wonderful; characters, I could relate to them all and felt I have known similar people throu life. The setting is Northern Ca, Oakland, San Francisco and features Leota Reinhardt, an 84 year old grandmother who lives alone and can no longer tend to her garden. It begins with Corban Solstek, a Berkeley College student who is indignant at getting a B instead of an A on a Sociology paper and is challenging his professor who made no edits nor notes to it. Corban wants an A. The professor tells him it was "well presented" for what he had but that he was missing the human element. He is sharing his apartment with Ruth who tells him to just do what the professor suggested to get the A. So he volunteers at a local charity to help an elderly person with grocery trips to gain human perspective. After all his family was ion Connecticut and his mother had remarried an investment broker after his father's death and they were likely off to Switzerland for holidays.
How all these and more characters weave together is the work of this novel,. I give this a 4**** only because it is so similar to the threads of other works by this author, if this were the only one I'd read by her I'd give it a 5 *****. room. Actually as I reviewed and quoted it here I thought it is really a 5 ***** because of the realness of the thoughts and situations. The tale may be fiction but the threads are of life. Weary she sat. Nothing wrong but I would have liked it to end differently with a happy ever after together for Corcoran and Anne Lynch. Yet the author has strong women and Anne Lynn is one.
By page 23 we begin to learn about Leota and her challenges. Her home needs repairs and is in a neighborhood that is not as it once was. She is outside and notices the neighbor girl and she thinks, "Oh Lord of mercy, will anyone care when I'm gone? Or will I lie dead in this house for so many days until the stench of my decaying body brings someone to check on me?" Wow that got me, I can relate at 81 now and living alone. Though I do try to keep in touch and have human contact daily it doesn 't always happen. There is a lot of background to Leota's life leading to where she now is, how she worked through WWII to support her husband's family while he too was away at war. How her son and daughter, Nora, were more with their paternal grandmother than with her because of her job. How Nora resented that. How we sometimes know little of the truth when we see only our perspective. I can relate to this so well growing up without a father who was a Lt. pilot in WWII whose plane went into the Atlantic months before my birth this left Mom a young widow. And she worked. She remarried though but I spent more time with my grandmother and aunt than with Mom. My Mom remarried and I always felt like I did not belong even though my half brother and I were raised together. I preferred to be with my grandma than at home.
Page 30 has Leota reflecting. "Leota slammed the refrigerator door and walked into the living room, weary, she sank down into Bernard's old easy chair. It fit her perfectly. After Bernard died , she'd spent the better part of 3 weeks covering it with a thick pretty aqua fabric. The work had been good therapy. Now after 30 years of wdowhood, she had worn down the nap, leaving the chair arms, headrest, and seat cushion almost bare--as well as permanently indented. But it fit her, te way it had fit Bernard after all those nights of sitting and staring. ....She was becoming like him....Thinking about the past. ...Her thoughts were often of the good times she had had over the years. Sometimes just getting old was the hardest cross to bear." She contemplates how she wanted to travel and see Europe and still would. But she gets weary just walking the 4 blocks and back hoime from the grocery store. She wonders if it would be better if she had company, anyone. I've been a widow 5 years now and truly can understand these feelings.
In summary Corban arrives as a volunteer to helpo her get groceries after she calls the agency. He is surprised because she insists on walking back and forth to the grocery store and the bank. But this continues and they become a bit acquainted. Meantime Anne Lynn has moved to San Francisco and is rooming with ta friend. One day she decided to go across to Oakland where her grandmother lives and visit on the spur of a moment. Leota is thrilled but nervous. That relationship will bloom beyond expectations with Anne learning how to tend to and clear up Leota's now run down garden. Nora, is furious. She resents her mother and thinks she has widened the gap between she and AnneAnne continues to visit and finally as Leota ails she moves there to care for her. Meantime she has met Corban on his visits. But her old want to be boyfirend is also interested in her. Anne is above this all. She meets the neighbors and organizes get togethers with the children. There is so much going on as the novel continues, a good story, well told, very lifelike.
By page 287 Nora has reluctantly shown up still hoping Anne Lynch will give this up and return home and go East to that Ivy League setting. In one scene Leota is considering her possessions, her treasures. "She glanced around the living room trying to see things through their eyes. She supposed most of what she possessed was junk by their standards. They didn't know that every knicknack, stitchery, picture, and stick of furniture meant something to her. Everything in her house held a special meaning and sparked a memory. These are not just things to gather dust....." Oh so realistic. I am the same way, my collections amassed over a lifetime, many inherited, my grandmother's china, Mom's special dishes, stitchery and doilies made by my aunt,,,,,I could go on and on. Some are valuable but who will ever know or care?
At any rate, Leota becomes very ill and things are hard for Anne caring for her but she persists. After Leota passes and the family, Nora and George the son and Anne are called to the attorneu's office for the will, there is a surprise as Leota has left the home to Anne. The son George is irritated until he learnes about the stocks that Leota left to him and Nora. Meantime Corban has continued to show up and he has strong feelings toward Anne. Buy she does not reciprocate those feelings. That's why I wish it had ended differently.
