(39)The Canterbury Sisters by Kim Wright

Sunday, May 24, 2015


Nobody wants to get dumped via a letter in the mail, but when it happens to Che Milan she reacts in a way that is completely out character.  What better time to honor her recently departed eccentric mother and scatter her ashes at the historic Canterbury Cathedral.  Che takes off for the UK and finds herself joining a "Broads Abroad" tour group that will be making the pilgrimage to Canterbury.   Che joins an eclectic group of women as they walk the sixty miles to the cathedral.   In the true Chaucer way each of the women tell their tales.  From the reality television star whose husband is now in prison to the housewife whose husband was murdered in a drug deal gone bad to the woman whose life has recently been defined by Alzheimer's disease.  The telling of their tales make Che really evaluate her own tale and what she wants out of life.   And along the way she discovers that there is more to her and her tale than she thought.

The Canterbury Sisters  was a fun read.  Che is a character that I enjoyed.  For one thing she isn't a twenty-something looking for love or even a thirty-something, but a woman on "the wrong side of forty."   And even in her forties she was trying to figure things out.  Keep in mind, she had two heavy blows in a short amount of time and that is enough to send anyone reeling.  The death of her mother and her long-term lover had dumped her.  I enjoyed the way Che seemed to loosen up and open up the further they got into their pilgrimage.  She was pretty guarded and closed off at the beginning, but I think her turning point was that night she got drunk in the pub. It was pretty entertaining to read for many reasons, but I also think that night gave Che some confidence she did not have before - thanks to being dumped.

Bottom line - The Canterbury Sisters is not only a book about a physical journey, but for Che it is also an emotional journey.  There is a Reader's Guide included with the book and it would definitely make for a fun book club selection.

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