By Ann Tyler (Knopf 2001)

“Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.”
So begins the story of Beck Davitch, 53 years old and wondering what would have happened if she had taken the left instead of the right fork in her life.
As a young woman, Rebecca was a quiet and unassuming person, more inclined to listen than to speak, to stay in the background than to be the center of attention. She was engaged to be married to a man she had known all her life, a man who was predictable, reliable and stodgy.
Into her life stepped Joe Davitch, 13 years her senior, a divorcee with three children (all girls), a mother and an uncle all living in a crumbling brownstone in Baltimore. The family business was to give parties in their aging but lovely house. When Joe first saw her, he was struck by the fact that she seemed to be having such a good time.
Married to Joe, she stepped in to the family business and became an out-going, friendly, problem-solving woman who never allowed a dull moment. After he died, she found herself the head of the party business, caring for her old mother-in-law and Joe’s ancient Uncle Poppy and trying to bring peace to Joe’s daughters and their own daughter Min Foo. The other girls in the family also had odd nicknames like Patch, NoNo, and Biddy.
Thirty years later she wondered if she should have married Will instead of Joe, and she set out to try to find the answer to that question.
The book is crammed with characters, and keeping them straight almost requires a chart, but it’s a worth-while read and I recommend it. It’s definitely a Good Clean Book.