Being Mrs. Alcott

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY MAY 2, 2005

Not the story of the famous Little Women author's mother, Geary's fourth novel (after Regrets Only) is the piteous tale of a long-married patrician who remains true to her uneventful life in Cape Cod despite an overbearing husband, ungrateful sons and ill health. Thirty-six years a homemaker and "attentive wife" to Bainbridge Alcott, Grace pays a high price for her inability to assert her will and desires. "Bain dealt with all the bills" is her refrain regarding her controlling banker husband, who's taken early retirement and informs her they have to sell their home in order to make ends meet. Without consulting her, he decrees they are moving to Palm Beach, Fla., while she, on the other hand, learns she has cancer and decides not to tell him. Meanwhile, their two grown sons, Hank and Erin, are furious at their parents for selling the family home. The novel delineates a lifetime of deference to parents, husband and tradition, from Grace's truncated Radcliffe education to the present day, when she suffers her illness and loneliness in martyr-like silence. "I've accomplished almost nothing," Grace remarks to Bain, and finally, hope sparks for this strangely unnerving and deeply familiar woman.