Duet for Three

From the author of the Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist Luck and the Man Booker Prize nominated Critical InjuriesFrom three very different points of view, Joan Barfoot creates three very different lives, through them examining the interdependence and ties, resentments and affections that both bind and unite mothers and daughters. At eighty, proudly fat Aggie can no longer be safely cared for by her fifty-nine year-old daughter, June. Both women's lives have been constrained by their times, and by their family responsibilities and disappointments. Aggie, though, has confronted her challenges with a sort of bitter zest, while June has leaned toward more dour and rigid standards. Frances, June's daughter, is the third generation of the women, closer in spirit to the admiring Aggie than to her mother. By turns humorous and touching, Duet for Three explores variations on family life – and the restraints and freedoms that are as much dictated by society pressures as by human desires.