My Passionate Mother — Judy Feiffer

The most frugal fishermen on the island of Pequod couldn't resist throwing money at the bewitching young girl who sang and danced in the streets for change, and when Finn and Joe befriended the penniless Claire, little did they realize they would forever be enthralled. Gentle, goodhearted Finn fell deeply in love with her, though she was obsessed by his best friend, Joe, a moody writer who repressed his own desire in order to protect Finn from being hurt.

There seemed no choice but for the three to enter into an arrangement. Finn offered Claire stability and family, while Joe would be her soul mate and lover, and they all would remain loyal. But Joe knew their love triangle was too hot for the island to handle, so he left for Boston to save them all from the furor of love run amok.

In this strange world of love and lust, Finn and Claire's daughter, Joely, is a soundboard for her mother's guilt, her romantic obsession. She listens to stories she is too young to understand and yearns for a mother who will simply let her be a child. Yet each month she goes with Claire to the dock to wait for Joe, and her adolescent heart leaps excitedly at the sight of the dark-haired, handsome man who is her mother's raging passion -- and her own, as well.

From acclaimed author Judy Feiffer comes her finest book to date, a beautiful and unconventional love story played out on a tiny seafaring island off the North Atlantic coast. Feiffer depicts the simple, endearing moments of childhood friendship and the subsequent ill-fated but inevitable loss of innocence. My Passionate Mother is a sensual, disturbing portrayal of four people possessed by love.