BOOK NEWS
A Wedding in Great Neck, by Yona Zeldis McDonough, follows a family over a single day as they come together for the nuptials of their youngest daughter. The synopsis says: "Angelica is the family's golden girl - intelligent, beautiful and accomplished, she is both everyone's favourite, and the object of much envy and resentment. She has planned a fairytale wedding to her Israeli fiance - a former fighter pilot - and is determined to have everything go perfectly. But things do not go according to plan, and there are complications, dramas and confrontations at every turn. Gretchen, the older Silverstein sister, is there with her twin 15-year-old daughters, one of whom is skirting the edges of some serious emotional problems. In turn, Gretchen feels that her own life - with its series of unrewarding temporary jobs - has not been fulfilling. Even worse, her marriage to Ennis whom she had deeply loved proved to be a disaster, and they are now living apart. Their parents, Betsy and Lincoln Silverstein, are long divorced. Betsy has married up, to the Great Neck manor of her dreams, while Lincoln, who has battled with alcoholism, has struggled just to stay afloat. Lincoln still carries a torch for Betsy; seeing her is not easy, but he would not miss her daughter's wedding and so will swallow the hurt he continues to nurse. Ennis' unexpected arrival at the wedding throws Gretchen off-kilter and stirs her emotions. Gretchen must contend not only with him, but with the surprising information he has come to reveal, information that will force her to re-evaluate what went wrong between them, and whether it can ever be mended. And whatever her complicated feelings are for her estranged husband, she realises she needs him to help deal with their daughter's escalating dangerous behaviour. Caleb, the gay younger son, thinks he has found the love of his life, only to have his heart broken in the course of the day. And Lenore, Betsy's octogenarian mother, is still very much alive and present, filled with plans and schemes for the family she loves so deeply."
