Apologies for the failure-to-appear of Friday’s blog. We threw a party for friends newly married on Saturday, and that kinda sucked all the oxygen out of the weekend.

I plucked this book from our shop shelves one day and was glad I did. Eighty-nine-year-old Isabelle McAllister asks her hairdresser Dorrie Curtis to drive her cross-country to a funeral. Why she does becomes clear as the book unfolds, hopping back and forth between Dorrie’s present-day relationship, and Isabelle’s just before World War II. It’s a tear-jerker for sure, but it also explores not just male-female relations, but friendships between women, and between mothers and daughters. Kibler’s writing is easy and fast, like a spring all flowing in one direction. Very few diversions, and nothing overly poetic to get in the way of a gripping read.

Normally I’m not a big fan of time-hop books but this one worked particularly well, making some subtle points about how the times, they may not be a-changing as fast as people think when it comes to race relations.

There are not many surprises in the book, and not all the characters are fleshed out, but Dorrie, Isabelle, the men in their lives, and Isabelle’s mother and Dorrie’s son are well-drawn. Which, as you will see, is enough to tell this tale with bittersweet dignity.