Once upon a time, there was you : a novel

 by Elizabeth Berg. An enchanting and empathic storyteller, Berg delights in the eccentricities that shape complex personalities and excels in decoding the chemistry and paradoxes of relationships. She is also an avid appreciator of the pleasures of food, funny and assuring on the subject of age, and an advocate for kindness. All these elements are at work in her latest comedy of marriage. Irene and John stayed together long enough to have Sadie, whom they adore. John, who restores old buildings, still lives in Minnesota. Irene and Sadie live in San Francisco, and Sadie is 18 and ready for college. She is also secretly in love. John is, too, though things with Amy, a charming chatterbox, are precarious. Irene, who works for a tempestuous caterer, has just broken up with another bad match generated by her hilariously loopy personal ads. All is droll and intriguing until Berg swerves, briefly, into the realm of terror, thus dramatically deepening questions about fear, love, family, and what one makes of one's life. Berg's tender and wise novels are oases in a harsh world. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With more than 20 books, Berg reigns supreme as a best-selling fiction writer, and library favorite, of charm and substance. --Booklist (Check catalog)