SOMEONE by Alice McDermott

Alice McDermott’s novels often seem to be about unexceptional people in unexceptional circumstances, but somehow she makes their story worthy of our attention with her lyrical prose and attention to detail.  Here we have Marie, who is neither attractive nor ambitious, and she is not particularly smart, getting her left and right mixed up with unfortunate consequences.  When her first suitor, Walter Hartnett (sometimes spelled Harnett in the hardbound version--an inconsistency which I found weird for such a respected author), talks about their getting married, she is all in.  Then he suddenly tells her that he is marrying someone else, and her world is shaken.  She eventually moves on, gets a job, gets married, and raises a family. Ho hum, right?  Not so fast.  The birth of her first child is quite a nightmare, and her job at a funeral home is a surprisingly good fit.  The surrounding characters have even more drama to offer, especially her handsome older brother who abruptly leaves the priesthood--and the “someone” who eventually becomes her husband.