This is Kristy Woodson Harvey’s eleventh novel. An avid follower of hers, I love this book. I love it the best of all of her books so far; of course I may have said that once or twice before when her previous new ones came out.
A Happier Life (Gallery Books 2024) is the story of a fractured family whose secrets are cleverly divulged bit by bit with several bends on the road to discovery.
Keaton Saint James Smith is sent to Beaufort, North Carolina, by her mother Virginia and her Uncle Lon to spiff up and sell the house that they inherited from their parents, Rebecca (Becks) and Townsend Saint James, who mysteriously disappeared decades ago. The house has been vacant ever since, and neither the mother nor the uncle had the desire or fortitude to go back there after the demise of their parents. Keaton’s brother Harris is just too darn busy with his very own celebrity PR firm, but as luck would have it—or not—Keaton is in the position to go.
As Keaton immediately discovers, the interior of the house has not been touched (except for some maintenance and repairs) since 1976. The first thing she does as she enters the house is walk through a spiderweb, which sets a tone for what is to come. But of course, who can’t help but fall in love; first, with a house that has been in your family since 1769, and then with the allure of a small town on the water?
The house itself starts telling the story and then for the most part, the rest is balanced with alternating chapters between Keaton and Becks, so finely crafted that the transitions are seamless, like inhaling and exhaling. Townsend does sneak in with a few chapters explaining his side of things.
In one chapter you’re plotting with Keaton to accomplish whatever she has on her mind on that day. In the next, you’re watching Becks, whose summer supper parties were legendary in Beaufort, set the table with her fine china and silver, and you’re discussing the guest list with her.
Although the two of them missed meeting by decades, the connection between Keaton and the grandmother she never knew, gives meaning and understanding to the confusing relationship Keaton has had with her own mother.
Keaton is one of those characters that you cheer for quietly all along the way until you realize that you’re simultaneously cheering for her out loud, and yelling at her to take another look at things. When she took a brief foray from her senses, I actually almost started to cry in frustration, thinking “No, no you can’t do that!” And then I realized that I was sitting in a chair, in my living room, talking to a character that only existed in a book. Except she didn’t only exist in a book. She was not really my friend, but somehow she was kind of my person, and I needed to give her advice and take care of her. And then I was caught short because I realized that there were only a hundred pages to go in the book and I knew that I didn’t want it to end.
I love the circuitous route that the author takes us on in this family journey. One minute you think you’re just walking straight ahead and maybe going to a bakery and then you find out that you’ve done a U-turn and you’re practically about to fall into the river behind you.
Intertwined with the story of the house and family is the bigger mystery: what ever happened to Townsend and Becks? Who did what to whom, where, and why? Did they die in an automobile accident or not? And if not, what happened to them? The reader is kept in suspense right up until the very end.
I didn’t see it coming, will you?
Kristy Woodson Harvey
Kristy Woodson Harvey is the New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author of eleven novels including The Summer of Songbirds and The Peachtree Bluff Series. Many of her books have been optioned or are in development for television and film and have received numerous accolades, including Good Morning America’s Buzz Pick, Southern Living’s Most Anticipated Reads, Katie Couric’s Featured Books, and Joanna Garcia Swisher’s The Happy Place Read. Kristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize.
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