THE COMPANY OF GOOD WOMEN: THREE TICKETS TO PEORIA, VOLUME TWO; by Nancy Anderson, Lael Littke and Carroll Hofeling Morris; Deseret Book, 375 pages, $15.95, softcover
When Nancy Anderson and Carroll Morris (real-life sisters) met Lael Littke at a Brigham Young University Women's Conference in 1990, a fast friendship developed. They vacationed together, and they wrote together.
And they decided to become COB's together ("Crusty Old Broads").
The fruit of their work first appeared with "Almost Sisters," the first volume of a projected three-volume novel titled "The Company of Good Women." The book was well-written and almost unique in showing real LDS women with real problems.
"Volume Two" follows Juneau, Willadene and Erin as secrets are revealed and new challenges enter their lives. Juneau becomes the guardian of a baby boy, Willadene copes with postpartum psychosis and tries to keep her children on the straight and narrow — and Erin struggles to hold her family together after her husband makes a surprising announcement.
Juney and Greg's teenage daughter Misty is unmarried but pregnant — and the prospective grandparents have differing views on whether Misty should keep the baby. Greg thinks the baby should be immediately adopted by "a forever family," and Juney thinks it would be cruel if they didn't see the baby before making a final decision.
Juney wins this battle.
In the meantime, Deenie, who is 35, is having a difficult pregnancy — with pelvic floor pressure and low back pain much earlier than during her previous pregnancy. She also has a heart murmur, helping to cause exhaustion early in the day. Aunt Stella is not shy about giving her unwanted advice.
Cory complains to Erin that even though she is "a wonderful woman" who does so much for everyone else, he can't see anything specific that she does just for him. (How did she get stuck with this jewel?!) He makes her feel guilty, even though she cooks his dinner, cares for his kids and does his laundry and ironing.
Eventually, Cory reveals the real problem — he's gay. She is mortified, distressed, amazed — you name it. But he still wants to make the marriage work. She doesn't know if she wants it to work.
Since all three friends live in different parts of the country, much of the story is carried through letters from one of them to two of them. As a vehicle for moving the plot, it works very well.
Besides the new problems, the three women have to "get over" the quarrel they had in St. George. They manage to do it — then they keep checking on each other and they deal with personal problems that range from MS to clinical depression to being gay.
The "voice" here is based on women in the Mormon culture, and it works. Potential readers are bound to be reassured by the knowledge that such serious problems exist in virtually all Mormon homes — and that friendship can help in dealing with them.
The is a progressive book, a novel that contains the kind of conflicts that novels outside Mormondom always have. Hats off to the authors. On to "Volume Three."
E-mail: dennis@desnews.com