Sue Halpern

Summer Hours at the Robbers Library by Sue Halpern is a very highly recommended novel about second chances and family. It surprised me how much I loved this gracefully written contemporary, charming novel with its distinctive characters.

Kit is the reference librarian at the Carnegie Library (called the "Robbers" Library based on the name of a local tycoon, Robers, who promoted it) in Riverton, NH. Kit has moved here four years ago to escape her past and wants nothing more than a peaceful, show more quiet, secluded life that revolves around working at the library. She often thinks of her therapist, Dr. Bondi, and what he has said to her in the past and would currently say about situations.

Sunny (Solstice) is an fifteen-year-old who is arrested for shoplifting a dictionary. She is sentenced to community service at the library for the summer. Sunny is un-schooled and the only child of her living-off-the-grid hippy parents. Her community service at the library opens up a new world to her and she eagerly attaches herself to Kit.

Rusty is a former Wall Street investor who lost his job. He has come to Riverton looking for an old bank account that belonged to his mom and should be worth some money now. He is at the library everyday using the computer to do research. Rusty eventually joins the group of four retired men who come to the library every morning to read the papers and drink coffee. He also begins to connect with Kit and Sunny.

These three unique individuals begin to form an uneasy friendship and connection as their stories are slowly told through alternating chapters. Kit's story is more complicated than the others and the larger backstory that begs to be told after the opening chapter. Sunny's story is based more on her parent's decisions and how they have impacted her life. Rusty is, obliviously, trying to find a new direction to his life after he lost his previous job.

Halpern has made all these characters appealing and compelling. I liked the narrative switching between the character's stories and found them equally compelling. I wanted to know what happened to them and see healing for them in the future. I loved the empathy given to the life of all these characters and the insight into their situations. I also loved the grace they gave each other, as they tried to understand and help each other. These are beautifully captured characters. (I saved quotes that I won't share due to spoilers, but there was so much insight and wisdom in them.)

The plot starts out at an even pace covering the background of the characters (but not Kit's entire story until later) before picking up the drama. The biggest complement I can give is that I was looking forward to sitting down and reading it and felt happy and satisfied when the novel concluded. While there was drama and conflicts, in the end this novel that left me feeling happy that recovery from traumatic events can happen and family can be chosen. And I loved the sheer love of reading and books that permeates the novel, along with the line of poetry from a notable poet that opens each chapter.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
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What We Leave Behind by Sue Halpern is a highly recommended domestic drama following two women of different ages and backgrounds.

Delia Marcus, wife of Eddie and mother to Melody, 17, dies in a freak accident. While Eddie is deeply mourning a woman he loves, Melody, who was adopted at age 3, is both mourning and confused. She was planning on taking the SATs and then heading on to college. Now, she has never heard the full story of her adoption and her mother is dead. After talking to friends, show more she questions if she should even go to college, take a gap year, or work on an organic farm.

Candace Milton is a successful HR professional in her forties. She has a best friend, Paul. After growing up in a turbulent home, she is intentionally single and unattached. When her company moves to Connecticut, she leaves New York City for a home in the country located closer to her job. Friends from the city come out to visit her and on Thanksgiving they save a man who fell into the pond when he broke through the ice. His name is Tom and he may offer the emotional attachment she needs.

The chapters alternate between the separate narratives following the lives of these two women. Their individual stories are distinctive and not kindred tales. Their lives do connect, but only briefly toward the end, and in an incidental way, although it is an encouraging occurrence. Basically, the novel follows two very different women contending with their own diverse emotional trauma from their parents and their destiny.

The writing is very good and the characters are all portrayed as sympathetic, unique individuals with strengths and weaknesses. You will hope both Melody and Candace find their way through life, overcome their emotional pain, and encounter future peace of mind. The choice to tell the story of these two women, side by side, in two distinct narratives is an interesting, especially since they are not dependent on each other. It kind of comes together in the end, but not completely.

There were several little issues along the way in the plot. They include: No mention of doing or even hiring someone to do yard work or snow removal at Candace's house in the country. All the climate change comments, which added nothing to the plot. Finally, the throw-away line about not moving with a company to South Dakota, specifically mentioning the Bad Lands, came across annoyingly coastal elitist since that is not where tech companies are relocating to in SD.

What We Leave Behind is a good choice for those who enjoy domestic dramas and can appreciate the dual story lines. 3.5 rounded up. Thanks to Harper Perennial for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.
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I enjoyed this read because the characters were likeable; sweet, smart, caring but vulnerable as we all are to the circumstances and events of our lives. Using a small town library as the nexus for most of the characters to meet, learn about and communicate with each other was brilliant. I believe libraries should help connect the people of the community, help us learn and care about each other and the world. And offer books, other media, and programs which support a more direct and less show more impersonal approach.

Riverton, New Hampshire is portrayed as both the town you grew up in and the town one happened upon after leaving a previous (usually unpleasant) life behind. Halpern cleverly makes this deteriorated town a character in its own right; further emphasizing the importance of community and caring. (Perhaps sending a message to those that leave not to give up on their home towns.)

I love that there were no villiains just regular folk trying to make the most of their lives. Not surprisinly the one person who is fleeing the law is not a villain... in my book.

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Halpern's [Summer Hours at the Robbers Library] falls into a category of novels that I have come to value and even cherish. Well-written and intelligent domestic fiction isn't as easy to come by as I'd like. This sort of novel does not fall into light fiction nor would not call it literary fiction either as there is no experimenting with form. The goal here is to create strong characters placed in 'situations' that without some slam-bang plot will lead you to turn the pages in order to find show more out what choices these characters will make. Very often, in this type of novel, the worst has happened already and the main character is struggling to come to terms and move on. In this case, Kit Sweeney betrayed by her husband and his family has left her old life to make a new one as a librarian in a mid-sized town in New Hampshire that has seen better days but continues to limp along. In this new life she is supremely defended, living alone, refusing all social interaction beyond work, determined never to be hurt by having expectations of people again, especially men. Along come two characters the summer of her fourth year in her cocoon--fifteen-year old Sunny who has to work in the library as penance for having tried to steal a dictionary from the bookstore at the mall and Rusty, a former bond trader in New York who lost his job and everything he owned when his company (and many others) failed in the mid 2000's. He has come to the town trying to solve a family mystery. There isn't so much plot as snowballing events. I value this type of fiction highly because, as Kit herself says at one point, books can save a life. There have been many times when losing myself in a story about familiar people not unlike me is exactly the medicine I need to cope. This is a novel to keep handy for a busy or difficult time when it will soothe and entertain and gently enlighten. I read it in the space between Christmas and New Year's and it was exactly what I needed to feel grounded again. **** show less