In novels like Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant and Breathing Lessons, Pulitzer Prize-winner Anne Tyler has displayed her mastery in creating slightly off-kilter but undeniably appealing characters whose flaws uncannily echo some of our own. In that sense, Three Days in June, her 25th novel, is certain to delight anyone looking to enter this familiar territory.
Gail and Max Baines are a divorced pair of educators reuniting temporarily to celebrate the marriage of their only child, Debbie. The wedding weekend comes at a moment of crisis in 61-year-old Gail's life, as she learns that she won't be elevated to the top job at the private girls' school where she's worked for 11 years, as she had expected.
When Max arrives from Maryland's Eastern Shore bearing the wrinkled khaki sports coat he plans to wear to his daughter's wedding along with a foster cat, his presence summons Gail's painful memories of the episode that led to the demise of their marriage. Still, Gail and Max are united by their love for Debbie, especially when a last-minute incident threatens to derail the wedding ceremony.
With a characteristic grace that combines economy of language and keen observation of the endearing oddities of middle-class American life, Tyler (The Beginner's Goodbye) guides the plot over some of the usual speed bumps that appear when not merely a couple, but their families along with them, are united by marriage. Three Days in June is a story about love in different forms, but at its heart it's a compassionate portrait of how muddling through may just turn out to be the path to happiness. --Harvey Freedenberg, freelance reviewer