Family Pictures: A Novel by Jane Green
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This is my book review of Family Pictures, a novel by Jane Green.
The Wives:
Maggie and Sylvie are perfect strangers. Two very different women, living very different lives on opposite coasts. But they share more in common than they could ever imagine.
Both women have beautiful children on the verge of flying the nest. It is the home they worked hard to build and always longed for.
Both women think their lives are seamlessly secure, but they couldn’t be more wrong.
Married To The Same Man:
He is a handsome, successful, and charming man who charmed his way into having two wives.
As you read about these two different women, you may wonder how they were fooled. When, in fact, we can probably all be fooled.
Creditors and sheriffs come to take over their homes for foreclosure. Tow trucks show up to haul their vehicles away for non-payment.
What these bright women shared was a man, and the fact that they knew nothing about their finances. He made sure of that and told them not to worry because he was taking care of them.
But he wasn’t.
A Common Criminal:
They finally learn this fact when he was picked up by the police in California. He is sitting in jail facing trial for his crimes, the money he had stolen from businesses that trusted him.
For all intents and purposes, he is a common thief on a grand scale.
Both of these women would have sworn that something like this could never happen to them. They knew their husband’s integrity and had absolute faith in him. But that was misguided.
This novel should teach us to know more about our finances and where to find important documents. To keep our eyes open and not be so trusting.
About the Author:
Jane Green has had 18 New York Times Bestsellers and over 10 million books in print. Jane Green is constantly reinventing her career. She is a hugely popular columnist for “Dear Jane.” She writes for the UK national newspaper, the Daily Mail, and its popular Mail Online website.
After a long, hard pandemic, Jane finally left her home in Connecticut for a new adventure in Marrakech. Long attracting artists, writers, and creative people, Jane is now happily ensconced in sunnier climes. Where she is writing a new book, buying a new riad, and running writing retreats.
This book is sitting on my night table waiting in line…it is next. I've been waiting to read it for some time, thanks Brenda for the push.
Jen
It is so scary! I did read this book and found it really good and eye opening. I was always sure to know what was going on financially in my marriages, but the last one was such a liar and a manulipitor that I was scared of him and got out. I lost lots and got my credit ruined but I pulled myself together and I'm now OK. I would never trust someone with my financial security ever.
Sounds like an interesting book. It's mind boggling to me as to how men can be so deceitful and get away with it for so long.
I just got through rereading Anita Shreeves' The Pilot's Wife and it reminded me of the unbelievable news that was revealed about Charles Lindbergh's "other" families in Europe. What were there, 3 more families other than his first family here in America? An American hero who could have done this? Thank God his wife was not in a condition to have understood what had happened when the news came out but I have to think that a brilliant woman such as Anne Morrow Lindbergh had to have known something wasn't right while it was happening. I think of how it must have affected his children here when the news came out. I have such admiration for Reeve for having realized that the blame was not on his European children and that she reached out to these half brothers and sisters and visited them.
This book sounds fascinating. I'd like to read it and see how it ends.
In the late 70's our across the street neighbors were a couple our age with two little boys the ages of my two oldest children. He was an auto worker under those old GREAT union contracts. He would be laid off every summer and receive 90% of his wages, so they had even more money since his travel expenses to work out of town were high. They did all sorts of fun family stuff, hiking and picnicing and visiting amusement parks, going to farms to pick fresh produce, attending sporting events, swimming at the swim club. Meanwhile I was stuck home with five children under 7 and no car. I thought they were the perfect family. We were friends and car pooled, etc, over the years. One day my neighbor came over and told me that her husband had been having an affair, he changed all their mail to a p o box with her knowledge, had filed taxes without her knowledge, and most importantly, changed all their bills to that p o box and had not paid them. She came home from her little part time job – found the house 75% empty (including stereo systems, tvs, video games and everything electronic that her boys had received over the years as gifts). and a note to pick up a registered letter at the post office. Her house was in foreclosure and was up for auction in 3 days. She also discovered that all her utilities were going to be shut off at the end of the week. He had moved in with his mother, hid all their funds, and claimed poverty.
Her first step was to plead for her family to come through and help her save her house (it happened)! Second, she was able to take no-interest loans from her church to pay balances on the utilities. She did not have a down payment for an attorney and had to represent herself in court for the divorce he filed. Luckily the judge did not find all this funny and allowed her to keep the house (she had to pay him the original down payment of $10,000) and even got alimony for a year or two. They were married 18 years so she was able to get his retirement of social security.
I still think how jealous I was of their family for all those summers and how glad now I was stuck with my own husband and family.
Oh-Yes- I know someone that something similar has happened to…this sounds like a great read and I will try and pick it up from the library. Thanks for the review. xo Diana