Hemlock Lane
In Marshall Fine’s novel, Hemlock Lane, we join the Levitsky family in the summer of 1967 for a weekend full of truths revealed and life-altering decisions. Nora, the youngest daughter, returns home to her small town in upstate New York after graduate school. Her family expects her to get a job nearby, but she plans to move to Chicago with her boyfriend, news that will hit her overbearing mother especially hard. Growing up, Nora never felt close to her mother. It was their housekeeper, Clara, who mothered Nora and her older sister, and it is Clara to whom Nora owes her sense of independence. But with family complications set to derail Nora’s dreams, a mother who clings, and another who wants to set her free, Nora must reckon with her own desires for her future.
Complex and character-driven, the plot unfolds over chapters that switch between six principal characters: Nora, her father, her boyfriend, her sister, her mother, and Clara. I found this style refreshing and appreciated the deep-dive into each point of view, especially that of Nora’s mother, Lillian. It would have been easy to paint Lillian with a stereotypical brush, but with a painful backstory and emotional heart, we learn why Lillian is the way she is. And I, for one, sympathized with Lillian’s plight as cultural norms and postpartum depression exacerbated her loneliness. I only wish more attention had been paid to Lillian and Clara and perhaps less to Nora’s father, whose chapter contains the meat of the family back story. But overall, I would highly recommend Hemlock Lane for book clubs and holiday gifts.
