Midlife is tough enough without moving back to your hometown to care for your mother, who is succumbing to dementia. Having taken a leave from her London teaching position, Kate Flynn is now in Cardiff, Wales, living with mom Billie in Firenze, their now dilapidated ancestral villa. She reconnects with best friend Carol and, ultimately, with David, Carol's younger brother. David's first wife, Francesca, committed suicide years earlier. Left with his young son, Jamie, David eventually married Suzie and had two more children. But Suzie is suddenly acting strangely, and David is bewildered by his now 17-year-old son. David runs into Kate at a concert, and their mutual interest in classical music seems like an omen to him. Discovering that Kate knew his mother, Jamie also gravitates toward Firenze and lands in an affair in that rarely used bedroom. Unfortunately, Kate is the least sympathetic character in this latest from Hadley (Everything Will Be All Right ). She is gruff with poor Billie (always has been, really), dismissive yet needy of Jamie's attentions, and unable to acknowledge David's feelings. Despite generally fine writing, this novel suffers from this major flaw; an optional purchase for large fiction collections.—Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal

This dreamy and thoughtful third novel from Hadley (Everything Will Be Alright and Accidents in the Home ) chronicles the slow-burning midlife crisis of Kate Flynn. A cigarette-smoking, high-heel–wearing Russian lit. prof, Kate has given up frittering among the London intelligentsia to move back to Wales and care for her aging mother, Billie. Against the backdrop of wintry Cardiff, Kate contends with her rekindled desire for David Roberts, now a married public health doctor. She simultaneously attempts to ward off the infatuated advances of David's teenage son, Jamie. As all concerned cavort provokingly, Hadley sympathizes with her quirky, stubborn characters and impulsive protagonist without excusing them, and the simmering love triangle between David, his son and Kate keeps the placid storytelling from falling into a meditative lull. (July)