All the Single Ladies
(2015) is set in Charleston in the American state of Georgia from June to
October 2014. The narrator is 50+ year old Lisa St. Clair, divorced from her
husband Mark, with a daughter, Marianne. Lisa’s specialty is geriatrics, and
she works as a part-time nurse at the Palmetto House Assisted Living Facility –
it’s like a hospice.
Marianne – who lives
in Colorado – surprises her mother by marrying ‘a druggie by an Elvis
impersonator in Vegas.’ But Lisa’s closest friends, Carrie and Suzanne, are
good for a laugh and to vent her frustrations.
Lisa’s favourite
patient, Kathy Gordon Harper, dies of cancer at the age of 58. With no known
relatives, the staff at Palmetto House, and especially Suzanne, who is the
executor of Kathy’s estate, are tasked with sorting out her possessions. Kathy’s
landlady, Wendy Murray, takes Kathy’s furniture, maintaining that it is hers.
Lisa and Suzanne don’t have proof that it isn’t.
At Kathy’s funeral,
the organist is Paul Gleicher, who was Kathy’s ex-partner. Paul, divorced with
no children, loved Kathy and wanted to marry her. He didn’t know she was
ill. Kathy told him she didn’t want a committed relationship and ended the
relationship abruptly.
Paul Gleicher is also the architect
of the Green House project. Paul and Lisa meet – Lisa knows that he was in love
with Kathy, and this links them together. When sorting out Kathy’s estate, Lisa
finds a marriage certificate and divorce papers. She had been married to David
Inmon Harper. No one knew this. Paul didn’t know this either. Then in the
library, in the book, Gone with the Wind,
the librarian finds an envelope of Kathy’s – in it is a birth and death
certificate. Kathy and David had a daughter who died at the age of two. David
was implicated in the child’s death, but an article clipping in the envelope
said that he was cleared of blame.
There was so much
about Kathy Gordon Harper that staff at Palmetto House did not know. But now
Carrie, Suzanne, and Lisa set out to find David Inmon Harper – mainly to settle
the estate, but they have other questions too. Paul, in particular, wants to know
more about Kathy’s life.
When they learn the
truth, Carrie, Suzanne, Lisa, and Paul confront landlady Wendy Murray – but why would
they do that, just for two pieces of furniture?
The novel is light and
easy to read. It is comical with a bit of intrigue, mystery and love. The
relationship between the three main characters – Carrie, Suzanne, and Lisa - is
quite well described, but some other characters are not deeply developed. Readers
can whizz through the novel is no time at all, because there is not a lot to
think about.
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