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Published Oct 2010
288 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Daisy Phillips is tired of being treated like an old lady. Sure, there was that incident with the lawn mower and the mud. And she did get trapped at the top of a ladder. But that doesn’t make her incapable of living on her own, as her son Dennis seems to think. Now Dennis is pushing her to sell the family home in Liverpool and move into a retirement community. To make matters worse, her best friend is going away for the summer and the new boss at the library politely informed her that her services as a volunteer are no longer needed. Is it any wonder that Daisy is feeling distressed?
But the unflappable Daisy won't go down without a fight. What she needs to boost her spirits is an adventure. A long-forgotten watch found in a box in the basement provides the perfect start. The watch belonged to her first love, an American soldier stationed in England during World War II. With a decades-old Brooklyn address as her only clue, Daisy embarks on a trip to New York City with plans to track him down and return the valuable keepsake, and maybe get a peek at the life she might have had.
But first there's a haphazard family reunion, where she meets and settles in with her colorful American cousins on Long Island. Elisabeth is the harried working mother who's engaged in a fashion battle with one of her five sons. Richard, her attorney husband, might be taking his enthusiasm for the game of darts too far. And their sullen teenage son Michael is on the brink of failing all his final exams. Though Elisabeth can barely keep up with the life she already has, she eagerly jumps on board with Daisy and her quixotic quest, determined to help Daisy find her long-lost love - an adventure that holds surprises for all involved.
"Starred Review. A perfectly charming debut…A small gem of a novel." - Kirkus
"[A] deeply botched debut." - Publishers Weekly
"Keeping Time is a romantic tale as intricate and beautiful as handmade lace, surrounding the irresistible Daisy Phillips. Readers of all ages will adore Daisy for her humor, courage and grace." - Kristina Riggle, author of The Life You've Imagined and Real Life and Liars
"Once I picked up Keeping Time, I couldn't put it down. Here, in a fresh new voice delivered in the intimate style of the best girlfriend talks ever, we meet Daisy Phillips, the kind of old lady we all hope to become. She bravely takes hold of her past in order to make her future worth living, and in doing so, readers will come to realize it's never too late to create your own happy ending." - Jo-Ann Mapson, author of Bad Girl Creek, The Owl & Moon Cafe, and Solomon's Oak
This information about Keeping Time was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Stacey McGlynn lives on Long Island with her husband and three sons. She holds an MFA in screenwriting from Columbia University. Keeping Time was inspired by a real-life visit from her first-cousin-once-removed, Dot Nicholson of Liverpool, England.
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