Dear Great Book Guru,  I hope you can help me with my 2015 New Year’s resolution.  I want to read more worthwhile and enjoyable books throughout the year. Can you start me off with a really good one and, please, not too long….? Resolute Reader

Dear Resolute Reader,  I have a truly wonderful book for you to begin your admirable quest: Colum Toibin’s NORA WEBSTER.  Set in an Irish village  in the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s, the novel introduces us to the recently widowed Nora Webster. Her husband, a popular schoolteacher, has just died and Nora is dealing with the many ramifications of this loss. We meet her sisters, her in-laws, her neighbors, and , yes- her enemies, of which there are many because Nora is not an easy person to be around.   She has strong feelings of injustice, anger, and guilt.  Her family finds her difficult- she and her mother were not speaking when the older woman died, and her children while loving her deeply feel uncomfortable in her presence. Despite this, the reader comes to admire and like her very much as Nora reflects on her life-  whether it be the riots in Derry, her children’s schooling, the sale of her family’s vacation home, the buying of a new wardrobe, or her annoyance at the mourners who come to her home with sentimental tales of their own losses. Toibin has said this novel is autobiographical with his mother strongly resembling Nora and he, one of the children.  While there are no dramatic happenings , by NORA WEBSTER’S conclusion, we feel we better understand ourselves and those around us- quite an achievement!