When my mom came for Thanksgiving, she brought me a few books she thought I would like to read and The Tumble Inn was one of them. It was not a long book and I read it pretty quickly. I did enjoy it and I was happy I got to read it.
“Tired of their high school teaching jobs and discouraged by their failed attempts at conceiving a child, Mark and Fran Finley decide they need a change in their lives. Abruptly, they leave their friends and family in suburban New Jersey to begin anew as innkeepers on a secluded lake in the Adirondack Mountains. There they muddle through their first season at the inn, serving barely edible dinners to guests, stranding themselves in chest-deep snowdrifts, and somehow, miraculously, amid swarms of ravenous black flies, conceiving a child, a girl they name Nat. Years later, when Mark and Fran are nearing middle age and Nat is a troubled teenager, Mark’s life is ripped apart, forever changed, and he must choose between returning to his old home in New Jersey or trying to rebuild what is left of his life and family in the place of his greatest joy and deepest sorrow. The Tumble Inn is a moving drama about home and about the fragility and resilience of love.”
The way Mark’s life was “ripped apart” was somewhat predictable, but surprising at the same time. I really liked the characters and how they interacted with each other. It is written through Mark’s viewpoint so it’s an interesting look at husbands and wives and fathers and daughters. I also enjoyed the references to suburban NJ towns that I am familiar with from living there!
What have you been reading lately?