Addled
by JoeAnn Hart
Published by Little Brown
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Reviewed by Linda Lee
Most of the people who live in the homes on the Eden Rock Country Club are old money, schooled in acceptable and expected behavior for all occasions. A flock of geese descend on the Club and suddenly the old ways are called into question.
Madeline Lambert didn't come from old money; she had to work to fit in with the social circle of her husband. When he kills a goose with a wild golf shot, and their daughter comes home with ideas of changing the kitchen at the Club to an all vegetarian diet, Madeline has to work extra hard to protect the family from Club gossip, and themselves.
Vita, the passionate clubhouse chef, has ideas of her own for the geese, as does the head groundskeeper who can't bring himself to kill geese after his first trip to addle eggs brings him a new pet gosling.
Geese, gossip, secrets, imaginations, and all types of passions fly during the summer of the wild geese invasion. Almost everyone feels the need to do things differently during this strange summer, a bond trader wants to sculpt metal instead of portfolios and a groundskeeper ties himself to the tree hugger. Is there something funny about those geese on the grounds?
This book is an enjoyment to read, a comedy of manners that you visualize as you turn the pages. Miss Hart has done a fun, er, I mean fine, job.
Armchair Interviews says: Ms. Hart has also had essays and short fiction published in many literary magazines.