I had twin uncles. They were identical in appearance. One joined the navy. The other worked in an auto factory and built a cabin. When one died, his twin divorced his wife and married his brother's widow.
It was more complicated than that, of course. But the gist of their story was that, in the end, they both loved the same woman.
In
The Lives of Edie Pritchard by Larry Watson, Edie is loved by twin brothers. Her story is revealed through three road trips across Montana.
She leaves home to become her own person; then returns home to confront her past and escape her present; and last of all, she goes on a quest to save her granddaughter.
Dean Linderman was unsure that Edie had meant to marry him and not his twin brother Roy. Roy was the hunk, the chick magnet. Dean was quiet, introspective. Why would the most beautiful girl in town choose to marry him when she could have had his brother?
Dean was jealous but passive, even knowing that Roy still carried a torch for his wife. Edie pleaded to move away, hoping to separate the brothers to save her marriage. They needed a fresh start.
Dean assumes that Edie wants to move so she won't fall into bed with Roy. No, Edie replies, "What I'm afraid of is that you'll end up with him."
Edie Pritchard did not ask for the attention of men. She resented their unwanted attentions. Her first marriage ends because Dean's repressed jealousy came between their love. Her second marriage ended because Gary didn't truly love her; he only wanted to possess her.
She's done with complications. She's done with men, including the nice guy who stalks her at work, and especially the younger men who come on to her. It seems that no sees or care about who she is, just their projections they create based on her beauty. No one ever asked Edie what she wanted.
Edie knows she failed as a mom to her and Gary's daughter, Jennifer. Jennifer's teenage daughter Lauren shows up with her boyfriend Billy and his best friend Troy, escaping her unhappy home. Troy is deeply insinuated into Lauren's relationship with Billy. No one understands better than Edie that when a couple is a threesome, there is trouble ahead. And Troy is trouble. One more complication has entered Edie's life.
Lauren moves on with the men, later sending a cry for help. Roy shows up to help Edie rescue Lauren, still insisting it was always and only her that he loved.
In a climatic scene, Edie makes a dramatic stand, hoping to save her granddaughter from the men who would use her.
Watson's book explores the boxes men put women into, the compromises women make, and what it takes for a woman to live authentically. Easy to read, with detailed descriptions of the past and the landscape and great characterizations, I loved this story of Edie Pritchard and her individuation quest for self-realization.
I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
from the publisher:
Everyone in Gladstone, Montana recognizes Edie as the smart, self‑assured, beautiful wife to her high school sweetheart Dean. But they only see what they want to see. They don’t see the relentless pursuit of Edie by Dean’s twin brother, Roy. Or Dean’s crippling insecurity in the face of Roy’s calm, easy charm. Edie’s relationship with the Linderman brothers reverberates through the years: from her conventional start as a young bride; to her second marriage to an explosively jealous man with a daughter caught in the middle; to her attempts to protect a granddaughter who is pursued by two lecherous boys. But despite it all, Edie remains strong and independent, no matter how many times her past attempts to claw its way back into her life.
“A few years ago, my wife and I were at a banquet where the guests began to trade stories,” says Larry Watson, whose writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, among others. “An older gentlemen told of being a high school exchange student in Japan, where he fell in love with a young woman. She was a twin however, and he could never be sure which sister was the one he was in love with. I didn't quite believe his story—surely love would enable one to discern the difference—but the situation was so intriguing, I kept playing with its possibilities.
I began to work on a novel whose working title was Edie and the Linderman Twins, which featured twin brothers who were in love with the same woman. But something happened in the writing that I hadn’t expected.
It was not the twins, but Edie who came to dominate the story, a woman who often found that others, men usually but not exclusively, projected on her an identity that suited their needs rather than hers. Perhaps it was this that drew me to Edie’s character most of all: through her many lives, despite others’ attempts to define her, she was sure of who she was. I hope you recognize her.”
The first film adaptation of Watson’s work, based on his novel Let Him Go, will be released by Focus Films in 2020, starring Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.
Read an excerpt at
https://www.workman.com/products/the-lives-of-edie-pritchard
Read an essay by Watson about the book at
https://d17lzgq6gc2tox.cloudfront.net/downloadable/asset/original/9781616209025_ae.pdf?1588876608
The Lives of Edie Pritchard
by Larry Watson
Algonquin Books
Publication Date July 21, 2020
ISBN: 9781616209025
hardcover $27.95 (USD)
