Monday, May 31, 2021

A Good Neighbourhood by Therese Anne Fowler - A Novel


Therese Anne Fowler, author of A Good Neighbourhood, describes the story of a neighbourhood set in North Carolina. It is a close-knit community of Oak Knoll where the neighbours know each well and socialize frequently as in regular book club meetings. The main characters, Valerie Alston-Holt, a black American professor of forestry and ecology is widowed and was married to a white professor. Xavier is their son. The Whitmans, the other notable characters, purchase a property here and create a mansion with a backyard pool. 

Issues surface when the next door neighbour, Valerie Alston-Holt is affronted as her historic oak tree, in her backyard, is gradually dying due to the aggressive creation of the mansion next door.  Then comes the blossoming romance between Xavier, a teenager, and the Whitmans' teenage daughter. This brings in added tensions between these two neighbours. 

Fowler's scenes create realistic situations about racial interactions in an established, prosperous neighbourhood.  Throughout the novel there is suspense and strained interactions among the neighbours as they face the difficult act of getting along with each other, no matter what the racial or mixed backgrounds of the individual neighbours. 

A Good Neighbourhood by Therese Anne Fowler--a white American author, has created a novel that illustrates the America of today and the challenges of maintaining a good neighbourhood. This new America raises many questions on how this country will evolve over time. An excellent read.  

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