Mirth — Kathleen George

"...a dazzling portrait of a man who lives up to his name, and of those who love him. A wonderful novel." -- Margot Livesey, author of The Boy in The Field Mirth chronicles the struggles of a writer, Harrison Mirth, a romantic man who writes about love and tries to find it through three marriages, in three cities, and always with renewable hope. Amanda is first -- New York city and youth. Maggie is second and spans the middle age years -- Upstate New York. Liz is third -- Pittsburgh and the senior years. Harrison Mirth doesn't say much to Liz about life before her -- a thoughtful comment here and there, funny stories, very little casting of blame. But like a quilt maker, Liz puts these scraps together to make a story -- how she thinks he was as a boy, then a man sheltering a secret lake of sadness, but somehow always upbeat, cheerful, a willful optimist, forever innocent. To her, that is irresistible.