The famous, the wealthy, and the not-so-wealthy all come together on Winthrop Island each summer in Beatriz William’s new novel, “Under the Stars.” For those who read “Husbands & Lovers,” a few characters will be familiar, but no matter, readers will be touched by this story about three women, all of whom end up at Winthrop Island, hoping that their lives will change for the better.
The story is told from the point of view of the three women, Meredith, Audrey, and Prudence. Prudence’s tale is told through her journal entries depicting not only the time just before the wrecking of the steamship Atlantic around Thanksgiving Day, but her life before that traumatic event. Audrey is a chef whose husband has just disappeared, leaving her with staggering debt and a broken heart. Meredith, Audrey’s mother, was born on Winthrop Island, but left to become a movie star, a goal she accomplished.
When Meredith is offered a plum role in a movie, but a requirement is that she stop drinking, her agent knows that she needs to get out of the public eye. Her savvy agent also knows that Meredith’s daughter, Audrey, is in need of money. She asks Audrey to accompany her mother to Winthrop Island, where they have a family home, for three months so that her mother can sober up. Audrey needs the money, her much beloved dog has just died, and she doesn’t know what her next step will be now that her husband, who jointly owned their restaurant, has left her and emptied their bank accounts.
The third narrative is Prudence’s written account of the days leading up to the wreck of the ship she is taking to flee from Boston to go to New York City in order to disappear. At first, we are not sure why or what or whom she is running from, but gradually, her detailed account makes that clear. What we don’t realize until Williams masterfully sets the stage, piece by piece, act by act, is the commonality that draws the women, each of a different age, together.
In addition to creating compelling characters who all are definitely flawed to some minor or not-so-minor degree, Williams provides a timeline that moves us flawlessly forward while also looking back into the history of the three main characters to see what events molded them and made them into the women they became.
Interestingly, this was just a discussion in my book club, and some participants expressed that they did not care for shifts in time in novels. However, I pointed out that when done skillfully (as Williams certainly does), such shifts in time offer readers greater perspective into the characters and their motivations than a strictly chronological timeline might have done.
The chapters are clearly labeled so we know from whose perspective the narrative is, and there are some chapters that are from other perspectives than those of the three women. Those select chapters bring more breadth to the novel. There are a few surprising twists, and readers will enjoy seeing how the relationship between mother and daughter, Meredith and Audrey, changes and grows over the course of the story. There is some romance also, and it is, not surprisingly, carefully and movingly constructed and executed.
There is mystery as well when a centuries-old trunk is found in the basement of the bar that Audrey’s father owns on the island. How do the contents of the trunk relate to what we know of the three women? Again, we benefit from Williams’ consummate skills as she gathers together the pieces of the story she has provided and shapes them into something we don’t suspect but makes perfect sense.
“Under the Stars” is a lovely summer novel perfect for reading under blue skies and on a beach or poolside. But it’s just as appropriate for a cold winter’s day when the trials of Prudence during that frigid November chill on the trapped ship, can be felt. Meet three women you won’t quickly forget. You may not like them all, but you will certainly respect some of the choices they make in this heartfelt, beautifully conceived novel.
This review was first posted on Bookreporter.com.