The End of the Day by Bill Clegg

The End of the Day tells the story of three women. Jackie, a widow, who remains in the hometown in which she grew up in. She is surprised one day to see her childhood best friend, Dana, who has just returned to her family home after a forty-nine year absence. Lupita, our other main character, is a woman living in Kauai, settling on the island after fleeing her life on the mainland many years ago. We are also introduced to Hap, a new father whose own estranged father has come to town to meet the new addition to the family. Unfortunately Hap’s father collapses and is hospitalized before the visit even begins.

The book is told from both the past and the present and comes together with the eventual merging of the three women’s stories and how they relate to Hap. Impressively, sixty years of history are captured in the course of a single day. Where the book excels is in the beauty of the author’s words. This is especially true in his account of the similarities and differences experienced by characters within socio-economic classes over the course of multiple decades. The author delineates with compassion how decisions made by characters not only impacted themselves, but others . Having said that, I did not feel a real connection to the characters or what happened to them – an element critical to my enjoyment of any book. Moreover, I felt a large part of their stories were simply omitted and I closed the book wanting more.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon &Schuster Canada, as well as Edelweiss and Gallery books for the ARC of this book in exchange for the honest review provided here.

My rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️/5.