Follow the destruction of a marriage and its recovery with a couple who have to learn how to settle for what is real and possible.
Alex and Ruth come from backgrounds so dissimilar, they should have been more wary before they married. Their temperaments are unlike as well. But it isn't until pressures they didn't foresee result in Alex's discouragement and eventual betrayal push them apart that Ruth digs in her heels and refuses to give up. Alex, equally determined, needs a shocking tragedy to bring him once more to Ruth's side. By then, he is a different man, as she is a different woman.
Excerpt
Alex had asked if she had dreams, and she had not known how to answer. Her dream was his image, however soft the focus. Behind every thought hovered his face. She had always prided herself on her ability to look at facts, to demolish castles in Spain before they could take over her horizons, but now she had completely lost tht objectivity, and she didn't care.
Professional Reviews
Great Book!
Joan Cannon's debut novel, Settling, has its very beginnings in coastal Maine in the late 1940's. The man character, Ruth, is a child at that time. Most of the book is set in New York City, and later, in the Connecticut countryside. Settling is the remarkable hourney of Ruth's life through her mid-to-late 30's.
Settling chronicles the life of the March family. ut, the older sibling, is very close to her brother, can. Nathan, the father, oerates an ocean-going boat, sohe's away from home for days at a time. Elizabeth, the mother, hold the family together. Following high school graduation,Ruth goes to business college in Rhode Island; following graduation there, she moves to New York City. Soon, Ruth meets and marries Alex. Throughout the book,Ruth encounters a series of tragedies; eventually two of the tragedies certainly serve to strengthen her marriage.
Joan Cannon has done a good job of developing the main characters, While there is certainly a fair amount of rmance in Settling,it isn't a romance novel.Especially towardthe beginning of the book,Mrs.Cannon describes the detailsof the settings in vivd detail. Her comprehesive descriptions of flowers, plants and even the weather give the reader the feeling the are there. I feelthe bookwouldmake a wonderful movie! Thebook is ...divided into 29 chapters. The pages fly by; I read it in two evenings...Settling is a wonderful novel; reading about how Ruth successfully resolves the problems she encounters in her life was very uplifting. I'm looking for more novels from Mrs. Cannon!
Rebecca Henderson, ALLBOOKS REVIEWS
The Changing Cycles of Love
Ruth March and Alex Duchamp are intriged by each other! Each has something the other dreams about, a stable and acventurous spirit, respectively. Both grow stale quickly after their marriage. They separate after Ruth has had enough of Alex's violent behavior and his ultimate infidelity.
For Ruth it's as if she'slost her youthful love of sensory appreciation of her surroundings, a "fleshly and spritiual frailty" that can only he healed by connecting with the earth. A job with a caring physician and his fmily, plus the frank and poetic tuch of Nettie - a landlady become firned, awaken Ruth to who she really is and what she truly wants in a relationshiop. Why is she hanging on th Alex, separate but not divorced? For Alex, his spirit longs for freedomfrom the rigid atmosphere he knew as an orphan in a French Catholic orhanage andlater as the adopted sonof staid parents. Crativity in the theater resotres his spirit temporariy but fails to till the emotional and spiritual chasm within.
Sounds proverbial, almost formulaic? Hang onto your seats, for this beautiful story evolves realistically, potently and meaningfully into an unforgettable love story worth the wait of every page to that point. In a culture rife with trite endings, how refreshing to meet a talented author who knows how to craft a special story that is poignant without being sickening, intelligent without imitation or condescension and deeply spiritual without being religious!
Ruth and Alex could be any woman or man in America, even if it's just a part or more. Getting to know Ruth and enjoying the poetry in this novel are experiences that soon begin to feel like a gift we want to share and experience ourselves.
Settling starts slowly but winds up packing an unforgettable zap mid-way to the very last page!
Very nicely done, Ms. Cannon!
Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on August 28, 2007
CRYSTAL REVIEWS
www.crystalreviews.com
e-mail to: literarymuse@hotmail.com
...Settling is a wonderful novel; reading about how Ruth successfully resolves the problems she encounters in her life was very uplifting. I'm looking for more novels from Mrs. Cannon! Rebecca Henderson, ALLBOOKS REVIEWS
Employing both nuance and detail, Mrs. Cannon authentically portrays the struggles of a marriage--romance, adultery, violence, and forgiveness--between two vastly different people, and in so doing treats her topic and her characters with realism and respect.
Susan Kelly, author of How Close We Come, Even Now,The Last of Something and Now We Know
'Better Without You'is a compelling narrative that explores the complexities of an affair, hidden secrets, and abuse. It also highlights a daughter's heartfelt journey as she cares for her mother who is battling dementia.
In a post-coup America, an Illinois farm boy is drawn into the resistance by his brother's death. Captured, he is given a choice: betray his friends, or the girl he loves will be lobotomized.
