by Ayelet Waldman. Waldman's startling premise a newly married couple dies in an automobile accident en route to their reception sets the scene for this searing, soul-searching examination of human emotions and reactions that successfully avoids drifting into melodrama. After golden couple Becca Copaken and John Tetherly die, the impact of the tragedy is examined from the points of view of their two radically different families. While Becca's well-heeled parents are gradually torn apart by the insular nature of their individual mourning processes, John's stoic working class mother, unable to afford the luxury of wallowing in grief, copes, as she has always done, by working hard on the tasks at hand. When Becca's younger sister and John's younger brother turn to each other for solace, it is unclear whether or not their relationship has a chance of surviving outside the scope of the devastation that initially brought them together. These individual narrative threads are neatly tied together over the course of four summers on the starkly beautiful coast of Maine, where the New York Copakens own a summer home and the native Tetherlys live year-round. Waldman utilizes a lovely musical metaphor to underscore this lyrical tale of love and loss. --Booklist
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