REVIEW: 

Christina Clancy has once again written a book that will be hard to forget! The title of her new book is The Snowbirds. I will be thinking about this book for a long while. There are many aspects of this book that will be making the rounds though my mind until I come to terms with everything that happened and all the different personalities that are introduced to us.

If you don’t know, I love the characters I meet in books. I love people with different personalities and reading books brings me into contact with many more of them than I currently meet in my everyday life. People have always been fascinating to me and you will meet your share of wonderful characters in The Snowbirds. I have to give this author credit for developing a truly diverse bunch. You’re gonna love these people. They are truly amazing in so many different ways!

This book also gives us an up close look at a couple who have an unconventional relationship. They have been together 30 years or more and have made their set-up work. Grant has lost his job just when Kim is about to go on a sabbatical. She is desperately looking for time alone to figure out her future. Now she finds herself headed to Palm Springs with Grant for the winter in the ex-husbands condo. They have a lot to figure out including how their future is going to look. Palm Springs winds up being a turning point in their lives and frankly one they were looking at even if they had stayed at home. Many of us find ourselves at turning points even when we don’t want them.

I found myself questioning if I could have lived their life and what I would want if I was in their position. This book made me think about things and made me realize there are many situations that are outside of the norm that work out for one reason or another. If you like a book that makes you think outside of your comfort zone, makes you wonder how you would handle a situation and leaves you in awe of the people you just met, then this is a book you should read. I highly recommend this book and hope you get a chance to read it. Let me know if you do. Until next time…Happy Reading!

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I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author, Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press. The opinions I have expressed are my own and I was not required to write a review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

SYNOPSIS:

“A riveting exploration of midlife yearning.” —People

The Last Thing He Told Me meets Fleishman Is in Trouble in this page-turning story of a couple who flee winter in the Midwest for Palm Springs, where they find their relationship at a crossroads.

Kim and Grant are at a turning point. A couple for thirty years, their “separate but together” partnership is running up against the realities of late middle age: Grant’s mother has died, the college where he taught philosophy was shuttered, and their twin girls are grown and gone. Escaping the bitter cold of a Midwestern winter for the hot desert sun of Palm Springs seems as good a solution as any to the more intractable problems they face.

When they arrive at Le Desert, a quirky condo community where everyone knows everyone’s business, Kim immediately embraces the opportunity to make new friends and explore a more adventurous side of her personality. Meanwhile, Grant struggles to find his footing in this unfamiliar landscape, leaving Kim to wonder if their relationship can survive the snowbird season. But when Grant goes missing on a hike in the Palm Springs mountains, Kim is forced to consider two terrifying outcomes: either Grant is truly lost, or this time, he’s really left her.

Is it ever too late to become the person we wanted to be—and is there still time to change into someone better? The exhilarating, but often confusing transitions of midlife are pitched against the promise and glamour of Palm Springs in this tender, honest story of what it takes to commit to someone for a lifetime. With compassion and humor, Clancy explores the redemptive power of finding ourselves, and of being found.

About Christina Clancy

I taught English at Beloit College for almost a decade. I’ve been writing short stories and essays that have appeared in The New York Times “Modern Love” column, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Sun Magazine, and in literary journals like Glimmer Train Stories, Hobart, Pleiades, The Minnesota Review and on Wisconsin Public Radio. I have a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

I live in Madison, Wisconsin with my very tall husband. We have two children, Olivia and Tim.