Book Review - The Fine Art of Insincerity by Angela Hunt

I admit I found myself a little skeptical as I dove into this novel by Angela Hunt. I've always admired her writing, her strong female characters and her settings. However, I wasn't sure I liked these women. Not until the final quarter of the novel.

We start off with Ginger, the eldest of three sisters. Happily married to Michael, she's successful at what she does. And she's a bit of a control freak.

Then we meet Rosemary, who is melancholy and pitiful. Suffering the loss of two children prior to their births, she remains in mourning longer than the average person. She's a bit suicidal.

Finally, we meet Pennyroyal, the third of the sister trio. Penny is unhappily married to her nth husband, and we run into her story as she eyes her potential getaway man. She's quite the adulteress.

Despite the girls' flaws, their beloved Grandmother has passed away and left them a cottage of memories to clear out. The realtor needs to close the sale, so the ladies head off to the place they've avoided returning to and discover a few things about their heritage and themselves.

What intrigues me most about The Fine Art of Insincerity is that the entire novel is written in first person point of view and present tense. Not an easy thing for a novelist to pull off, especially not as well as Angela Hunt accomplishes it. 

I couldn't put it down, despite my brewing discontent with the characters and their attitudes toward life and the choices they made. At the end, all is not well, but all is worth living for. Which makes this a book worth reading.

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