Husbands & Lovers: A Novel

This book keeps you on the edge, but only after you read the first 50 pages. It is built on the notion of an ideal soulmate or companion for less than ideal women and the effort it takes to pursue and seduce one. Would have liked to see more historical context, but the passions certainly maintain one's interest.

Sydney M. Williams s Husbands & Lovers, Beatriz Williams July 19, 2024 “It’s important to know where you come from. It’s a part of you. But it doesn’t have to define you.” Husbands & Lovers, 2024 Beatriz Williams Full disclosure: Beatriz is my daughter-in-law, which, in part, explains my interest in this, her latest novel. Nevertheless, in my opinion (biased though it may be), this is her best. There were times when I laughed and, at other times, teared-up. While there are a few scenes that would have made Grace Metalious blush, her descriptions of War-torn Hungary, of Cairo in late 1951 and early ‘52, and of current-day Winthrop Island (aka Fishers Island) would have impressed James Michener. And her surprise ending would have surprised O. Henry. The book is a page-turner, but I would rather not relate the story – one of tragedy and redemption – other than to say it, principally, involves the lives of two women and the men they loved: The first, Hannah, Hungarian-born in the mid 1920s, experienced unspeakable tragedy during World War 2. When we meet her, she lives in Cairo with her much older British husband, Alistair, who is with the British Foreign Office. There are flashbacks to war-time Hungary. The second, the real heroine of the story, is an early 30s-something single woman, Mallory Dunne, who lives with her thirteen-year-old son Sam in Mystic, Connecticut. A medical emergency necessitates that she trace her son’s DNA. As in all Beatriz’s books, this novel transports the reader back and forth, in time and in place. In Husbands & Lovers, the reader starts and ends in Mystic. But most of the time is spent on Winthrop Island, the location of two of her earlier books. It is where Mallory had spent a summer fourteen years earlier as a nanny, and a place she still loves: “To go running on Winthrop Island at dawn is about as close to heaven as I can imagine…” But time is also spent in early 1950s Egypt, when Hannah, Mallory’s grandmother, is in her mid-30s, and where the revolution against British imperialism was heating up. This novel, as is true for all her books, incorporates Beatriz’s knowledge of anthropology and her interest in history. It speaks to many aspects of our lives: the timelessness of love and passion, that we are victims of chance, and that we must live with the consequences of choices we make. Historians provide facts and statistics of people, places and events, but it is the novelist who provides the texture that allows readers to get a better sense of the people who lived in the past. This story takes the reader through a forgotten part of World War II, revolutionary Egypt and current-day Winthrop Island. I have read all her previous books. There is a lot in this one. It is special.

Good plot. Good haracter development until...big question; why? Why did these educated capable sisters revert constantly to the increasingly vulgar vernacular of the day? I'm so sick of this. Can't escape it and am hit with it in social media incessantly. It doesn't fit here. Or anyplace else, except the street. . There is a minority of us (unfortunately) that still love the beauty of poetry and prose expressed by reputable writers. Guess I'm just a querrelous old lady, But this just stinks. How's that for common vernacular.

Good reading

Was disappointed in this book. It was good at depicting the locales, but I couldn't relate to the characters. They just seemed to be people jumping in and out of bed.