Ladder of Years by Ann Tyler Dee is a woman in her forties on a summer family holiday, after a morning of preparing things for a day a the beach she sits on her towel and watches her children play, her sisters chat and her husband takes off for a long jog. She comes to a moment in her life where she finds herself a stranger both to her family and to herself. She stands up grabs a sarong and her beach bag, stuffs a towel in it and walks off without breathing a word to her family. In a nearby town, Delia reinvents herself; getting her first job, finding her first place, and buying her first business suit. Can she really start again, walk away from one life and begin another? Mothers and wives often have these fantasy thoughts of escape and I feel sure that is why this book has such resonance. The story is so compelling that it is easy to overlook Tyler’s writing style which is beautifully crafted, using such thoughtful word choices. If you have never read any Ann Tyler.. well, you have plenty of joy ahead.
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