January 1, 2017
When we last saw Cissie, Valerie, and Janice, in One Week in August (2016), they were enjoying their summer holiday in Blackpool in 1955. Two years later, Valerie is marrying her sweetheart, Sam, whom she no longer thinks of as her boss, while Cissie is managing her toddler son and expecting another baby with husband Walter. Valerie hopes that Janice can take a break from work and come to the wedding with beau Phil. Thornton examines the delicate balance between love, marriage, and life's challenges. For Valerie and Sam, it's what it means to not be able to have the baby Valerie desperately wants. For Cissie and Walter, it's Cissie's jealousy over Walter's friendship with a new coworker and her envy over Valerie's seemingly perfect life. Janice must modify her dreams as she withdraws from university to help her recently widowed father and younger brother adjust to their new lives. Each situation is difficult, but Thornton's appealing characters come out stronger and happier for their struggles. A heartwarming portrait of three young women transitioning from fiances to wives and mothers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)