The May House

 Jillian Cantor has written a new novel titled, The May House.  This is a very captivating novel about the lives of three sisters.  The plot follows them from childhood to becoming adults and how their lives develop and their reationships change.

We meet the May sisters as they visit their grandmother at her beach house on Coronado Island in California for a week in May. This becomes a family ritual, to visit the house the same week every May as the girls are growing up and they look forward to wonderful visit with their grandmother.

When they are in the twenties, away at school and starting their first jobs, visiting at the same time gets more complicated.  When their grandmother dies, she leaves them the house with the stipulation that they need to continue their visits.

Julie, Emily and Nora are not close as adults, thy different interests, they are busy in their own lives, they keep secrets from each other. The week every May at the beach house is the only connection between them. 

 The year Julie down't show up at the house changes everything.  Nora and Emily are worried and as they start to search for Julie they start to uncover the secrets that have been pulling them apart. 

The book is told in alternating voices of each of the sisters. Learning how family secrets, experiences and memories have shaped each of their personalities and their lives helps bring them closer.  It is a story of family ups and downs and learning how important sisters are. 

The Clementine Complex

 The Clementine Complex is a quirky mystery novel written by Bob Mortimer, a British comedian.  

The novel is written in a comedic style and is the story of a young man who seems to be very awkward socially.  Gary Thorn works for a law firm as a legal assistant.  He wears the same cheap suit everyday to work and carries a plastic briefcase.  He lives in an apartment that he has never really furnished or decorated.  He tells his next door neighbor that he is not sure how long he will be staying, though he has been there for two years. 

One night a coworker, Brendan asks to meet for a drink at the local bar.  While they are talking Brendan gets a phone call and says he needs to leave.  Gary stays a while longer striking up a conversation with a woman at the end of the bar.

A few days later, two policemen meet up with Gary to say he was the last person to see Brendan alive.  Gary tries to find the woman he thinks of as Clementine from the bar to give him an alibi.  These two actions set in motion the circumstances that follow. Gary does not seem very smart as he gives away information and doesn't seem to understand what is happening around him as he gets further and further mixed up in the dealings of these unsavory characters.

In this bumbling plot, Gary also spends time asking advise from a squirrel he sees when he is walking.  He assumes it is always the same squirrel and he carries on a conversation with it.  I did not really find it added much to the plot.

A simple mystery and a quick read, but not a book I would reccomend.