For this month, I wanted to find a light read, so I selected The Lending Library by Aliza Fogelson. In many ways this book fit the bill, but there was so much more in these pages than a breezy read. Dodie Fairisle is a thirtysomething single woman coming off a painful break-up with Daniel, the man of her dreams (or so she thought).
After leaving the hustle and bustle of New York for a chance to heal in the Connecticut countryside, she buys a charming bungalow, settles in as the new Art teacher, and embraces small town living. When her favorite hang-out, the local library, must close for a major renovation, Dodie decides to start her own lending library at the school. The idea is so well received, she soon runs out of room in her classroom and moves the library to the sunroom in her house. Dodie’s lending library opens and it’s an immediate success. Keeping busy seems to be the solution Dodie needs, but for how long?
Is it possible to have a career, travel, volunteer in the community, find the one, and be a mom? It’s a conversation Dodie and her friends seem to be having whenever they get together. Her friend Sullivan finalizes plans to adopt a child from Ethiopia. Dodie’s younger sister Coco is also considering adoption while her oldest sister Maddie announces she’s decided to embrace being childless because of the fertility issues plaguing the women in the family. Panicked, Dodie begins testing with her OB-GYN and learns she too may have trouble conceiving after thirty-five. Can she get over Daniel, find Mr. Right, and get pregnant before her clock stops ticking?
I can’t really tell you what happens next without giving away an important part of the story, so I’ll highlight a few of the issues Fogelson weaves together. Dodie’s favorite student, Elmira is smart and talented, but her parents are always too busy with her younger brother to notice. Seeing the disappointment on Elmira’s face when her parents don’t show up for school events and forget to pick her up reminds Dodie of her childhood. Her father deserted the family when she was four years old. He remarried and started a new family that didn’t include his daughters. Her mom became a single parent juggling work and three young daughters. Though her mother eventually married a wonderful man Maddie, Dodie, and Coco now call, dad, the sting of not being enough for her birth father was still there. She brought those abandonment issues into all her relationships trying to be perfect… to finally be enough.
Fogelson also touches on what happens when adoptions fall through, single parent adoptions and who will care for the child if the adoptive parent dies suddenly. She handles these situations with compassion.
I had a little trouble relating to the names she used for her characters – Terabithia, Elmira, Kendra and Shep aren’t names I encounter in my social circles and my friends and I don’t dine at four star restaurants or feast on gourmet cheeses and fine wines. But, in a pandemic when most people aren’t going anywhere or having new experiences, the lifestyles of her characters are a welcome escape.
If you love books and have ever wondered what it would be like to live in a community of people who love books… you’ll love this book.
Photo of Aliza Fogelson by Marni Fogelson
Book Cover Image Photo: taken from alizafogelson.com