Three Days in June by Anne Tyler ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

A new Anne Tyler novel destined to be an instant classic: a socially awkward mother of the bride navigates the days before and after her daughter's wedding.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

February 2025; Knopf; 978-0593803486
audio, ebook, print (176 pages); women's fiction

If you are a fan of Anne Tyler, you're going to love this book and it may become your favorite of her books as it did mine.  If you haven't read Anne Tyler before, you need to read this.  You'll find out how wonderful her storytelling is with wonderful and insightful looks at people - both the good and the flaws.

Gaile Baines is having a rough day.  Her normal quiet life is imploding.  She works at a private school and believed that she would get the job as head of the school when the current one left.  When she's informed that she was passed over due to being socially awkward, she leaves her job and goes home.   Another problem is that her only daughter is getting married in three days and she hasn't been invited to the spa day with the bridesmaids and the mother of the groom.  On top of all that, her ex-husband shows up from out of town with nowhere to stay plus he has a cat with him that he is trying to get adopted.  To say that her placid life has changed to one of confusion and anxiety is putting it mildly.  Then things get even worse - her daughter shares a secret with her parents about the groom and insists that she is going to cancel the wedding.  Gayle wants to be helpful to her daughter but not intrusive and she agonizes over her daughter's decision as she compares it to her personal reasons for the end of her marriage.  

Gail's real decision comes down to what to do with the rest of her life.  She's 60 - is it too late to change her career and her life in general?

Gail is a fantastic main character -- quirky, a bit of a worrier - well maybe more than a bit - and a person who likes her life to be calm and planned.  Her ex-husband is just the opposite - very spontaneous and free.  Some of their conversations made me smile and other times I felt like they were being very insightful.  This was a fantastic new book by a Pulitzer Prize winner and you don't want to miss it.

Buy Three Days in June at Amazon

Susan Roberts grew up in Michigan but loves the laid-back life at her home in the Piedmont area of North Carolina where she is three hours from the beach to the east and the mountains in the west.  She reads almost anything but her favorite genres are Southern Fiction and Historical Fiction.   

 

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