Reading for Spring!

Raising timeless questions of the heart, The Three Weissmanns of Westport conveys a world of ironic insight.  This story made for a chatty book club discussion as the novel dove into the character’s own reasoning versus their need for love.

The novel begins with Betty Weissmann, age seventy-five, and used to her life of privilege in her adored upper West side apartment.  Betty has just been dumped by her husband of more than 45 years.  She is thoroughly surprised when her husband announces he wants a divorce, and he freezes her assets, leaving her unable to manage the costs of her privileged lifestyle.

Betty and her grown, middle-aged daughters, Miranda and Annie, venture off to Cousin Lou’s vacant Westport beach cottage.  The girls claim they are helping their mother get acquainted with her newly exiled life away from New York, yet they have issues of their own.  Miranda, a tough-as-nails publishing agent faces bankruptcy after her business unveils a number of scandals.  Then Annie, a presently divorced romantic falls for the brother of her father’s young girlfriend.

Banning together, as only mothers and daughters can do, the three Weissmann women help each other through a storm of impending predicaments.  These women, Betty, Miranda and Annie hold each other together, while each of them discovers new strength.  While the Weissmanns take refuge in their cousin’s run-down cottage they realize that they have more strength than they knew of, more courage to face the obstacles they may encounter and more love for one another.

If this sounds a lot like something you’ve already read, that’s because TheThree Weissmanns of Westport is a modern-day, re-embodiment of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility.  If you are a diehard Austen fan this story has all the makings of a much loved half-sister, with its modernized foundation of Sense & Sensibility plot and a few fresh twists and turns, this novel makes an enjoyable read for an Austenite and the like.

Not an Austenite, haven’t read the original or seen one of the Sense & Sensibility movies, no worries.  The Three Weissmann of Westport is a great standalone novel of woman’s fiction.  Yet as those familiar with Austen’s novel, you may enjoy anticipating events, comparing the Weissmanns to the Dashwoods and recognizing the similarities between the two stories.