Clock Dance by Anne Tyler

In Anne Tyler's latest novel, the reader encounters Willa Drake at four times throughout her life. In 1967, she's eleven-years-old and processing why her mother has left home. In 1977, Willa's about to become engaged to her college boyfriend, Derek, while in 1997, she's just entering widowhood. The majority of the book, however, takes place in the present, when she's contacted by a neighbor of one of her son's ex-girlfriend. The ex-girlfriend, Denise, has just been accidentally shot in the leg, and there is no one to watch her daughter, Cheryl. In a spur of the moment decision, Willa and her husband, Peter, head out to Baltimore from their home in Tucson to take care of Cheryl while Denise recovers. Willa, it turns out, is really at loose ends and discovers that she needed by Cheryl and Denise. She is also enjoying meeting all the neighbors that live on Dorcas Road, but Peter is perplexed by Willa's actions and considers the whole trip a burden. Clock Dance is a character study of Willa explored through her everyday life. An enjoyable read similar to Stewart O'Nan's wonderful Emily Alone.