The Woman Who Was Not All There — Paula Sharp

Marjorie's husband, Byron Coffin, had misled her for so long, that she learned to lean away from life to keep from falling over, like a woman walking a large dog." So begins the disarming and funny story of Marjorie Leblanc -- "the woman who was not all there." After Byron abandons her in 1963, Marjorie works as a nurse to support herself and her four young children. With no eligible husband on the horizon, she settles for sipping gin and gossiping with her lady friends like Rita, the rough-talking laundromat owner, or dealing with daughter Karen, a budding Peeping Tom. The problem is that Marjorie can't keep things from changing -- her friends scatter and her children grow up and move away. It's only when a near-fatal illness strikes that Marjorie realizes how to get on with her life, this time, on her own terms."