"I could never have explained to Estelle what it felt like to have daughters, to feel that they had been with me all of my life, and that if they didn't figure in my early memories, it wasn't because they hadn't been born yet, they had simply been off somewhere else, as if out of sight in the next room."

Margaret Maguire, nee Maggie Doud, has suffered a heart attack at 82. She returns from the hospital to the house in which she has lived for 40 years and this wonderful novel proceeds to walk us through her life. This isn't a tale of tremendous adventure or dramatic tragedy; it's the story of a rather ordinary life, one full of joys and sorrows, regrets and appreciations. Never maudlin, Maggie's voice is steady and honest, at times funny, often poignant. Her husband Garfield, her daughters Joanne and Lee, her siblings and in-laws, they all come to life gradually and richly as the narrator escorts us through her memories. Reminiscent of authors like Elizabeth Strout, Anne Tyler, and Penelope Lively, I think Kate Southwood warrants a read. ( )