Home : Book details : Book description

Description of  The Why of Things: A Novel

Just completed the "Why of Things" and true to form it is another outstanding piece of psychological fiction by Ms. Winthrop. Exploring the archetypical question of "why" in life leads us down multiple pathways and usually resulting in new questions but seldom resolution. Ms. Winthrop brings the Jacobs family of Eve, Eloise, Anders and Joan along this path soon after the suicide of the oldest daughter in the family, Sophie. Each of these characters have both unique as well as parallel journeys grieving this loss. When they arrive at their summer residence in Gloucester on Cape Ann Massachusetts they discover a pick-up truck has driven into a quarry on their property. When a body is pulled from the truck the relaxation of vacation routine disappears. Ander's fears, Joan's unacknowledged grief, Eve's unexpressed anger and Eloise's sadness of the innocent are woven neatly through every page of this novel. The summer is the setting, the place is the magnificence of Cape Ann and the characters will come to life as they live the question, "Why".