Meet Veronika Tobias, the matriarch. She is a psychologist. Meet Mel, her daughter-in-law, a psychotherapist. Meet Birdie, Mel’s daughter-in-law. Birdie is a mid-westerner and an aspiring writer who gave up her dreams to follow her husband to live in New York City. Three women, all known as Mrs. Tobias.
Birdie and Micah married young and now have a young daughter, Alice. Micah has yet to grow up and become a responsible adult. Instead of joining his grandfather’s and father’s thriving clothing store, he operates a operates a food truck that sells, of all things, mashed potatoes. Driving home after an evening of drinking, Mel accidently hit something, but didn’t know whether it was a person, animal, or object. He didn’t see anyone, so continued home and never reported the incident to the police. At the family’s weekly Shabbat dinner, he reports the incident, who urge him to own up to his actions.
This sets up the scene for exploring family relationships. Veronika and Mel can assist other people with their problems in their professional life, but struggle with their own family problems. As the meddling mothers-in-law try to help Micah and Birdie, the younger Tobias’ must come to their own solution to their troubles.
This was a delightful novel, told through the eyes of each of the three women. I would have rated this book a 5, but for Alice. I found the dialogue with the three-year-old Alice to be totally unbelievable in an otherwise lovely book about family and love.
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