You’re never too old to evolve. That’s among the life lessons Madeleine Van Hecke deftly explores in her second novel that beautifully explores the nature of human failings, deceptions, and potential for forgiveness.
Octogenarian Ada, living near Chicago circa January 2020, still grieves after three years widowed. She’s controlling and sanctimonious, especially with her naïve brother, Tim, an easy mark for online catfishing. The storyline, with a backdrop of COVID and Black Lives Matter, centers on the power-play between Ada and Tim — she tries to “fix” him; he resists¬—and the lifelong undertone of tension between herself and daughter Sonja.
Ada and best friend Nora work together in social activism partnerships with Nora’s Black congregation and Ada’s mostly white Unitarian Universalist fellowship. Nora endures Ada’s self-righteousness as a white woman fancying herself racially enlightened. But eventually, Ada’s leadership in their social action circle is revoked; in a piercingly painful intervention, she’s told, “You want to be our savior […] and you don’t even see that you’re part of the system that’s hurting us.”
Van Hecke’s story moves briskly, and her dialogue is true to life, alternately painful and funny. Virtually anyone with family will relate to Ada’s and Tim’s button-pushing, as in this exchange between meddling sister and vain brother: “ ‘What did the doctor say?’ ‘[…] He thinks the problem is clogged arteries that are too small for a stent.’ ‘Well, did you ask him—‘ ‘Addy. I just need to walk slower. Okay?’ ”
Her descriptions range from competent to mediocre (“very worn-looking leather jacket”), and she spends little space on place and time, but the strong dialogue and flawed characters easily offset this.
She also effectively employs symbolism: a beloved, rotting tree Ada refuses to cut down, a friend’s needlework needing re-stitching due to an early dropped thread. Unless Ada rebuilds herself, she will lose her community and self.
Wrenching emotions and compelling characters drive this page-turner — right up to its final, tender denouement.