Book Summary and Reviews of Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark

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Cathryn_Conroy

An Epic Novel About Friendship, Family, and the Legacy We Leave to Others
This smartly structured novel is a slow burn that eventually becomes a captivating and imaginative story that is ideal for summer reading.

Written by Alice Elliott Dark, this is the delightful story of two best friends, Agnes Lee and Polly Wister, both of whom are 80 years old when the book begins. Friends since they were babies, the two have spent summers together for eight decades at Fellowship Point, a secluded and private stretch of preserved land in Maine overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Winters are spent in their nearby homes in the posh section of Philadelphia on Rittenhouse Square, until eventually Polly moves to nearby Haverford. They are both (very) wealthy Quakers.

The two women could not be more different. Agnes, a cantankerous old lady who cherishes her solitude and independence, is the published author of a wildly popular children's book series in which each of the more than 30 titles begins "When Nan…," such as "When Nan Was a Lobsterman" and "When Nan Ran a Wind Farm." She also has a big, big secret that no one else knows—not even her editors and publisher. She is the pseudonymous author of the bestselling ChickLit series known as "The Franklin Square" novels. She fiercely decided to never marry so she could always be solely in charge of her life. So there.

Polly is the happily married mother of three sons, as well as a daughter who died in childhood. Her husband, Dick, is a bloviated professor of philosophy and ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, and now into his 80s, he is finally and begrudgingly retiring. He overstayed his welcome, and he definitely feels he is being kicked to the curb. Dick is very needy, having spent a lifetime being waited on by Polly, something she happily does and something that galls Agnes to her core.

Nearing the end of their lives, Agnes and Polly face various crises—from death and intense grief to worry about preserving pristine Fellowship Point as the bird sanctuary it always been.

And then a young, smart, and ambitious book editor named Maud Silver befriends Agnes in the hope of convincing her to publish a memoir about the origin of the "When Nan" books, one of the secrets that Agnes has always held close. Needless to say, Agnes is quite resistant to the idea, but is enthralled by Maud, a single mother of a three-year-old girl and caretaker of her own mother who has serious mental health issues.

Keep reading for one big plot twist, which alert readers will see coming. (Kudos to Alice Elliott Dark for sprinkling tiny clues along the way.)

Structurally, the novel is a bit of a hodgepodge, but it works. While the majority of the book is told in narrative story form as one expects, there is a significant amount told in letters, which is more like a diary or journal that Agnes writes to her dead sister, Elspeth. These letters provide background material from years past, adding much detail to the current day story.

This is an epic novel—nearly 600 pages—about friendship, family, the meaning of land ownership, and the legacy we leave to others.