Hildy Good is a real estate broker in Wendover, MA - a (fictional) town located north of Boston. Her husband left her for a man and she has 2 daughters with him. She is a grandmother. This story starts after she's been released from rehab for drinking (her daughters put her in rehab). It tells Hildy's story once she's home and trying to work and get through the day without drinking. Rebecca and her husband move to Wendover and Rebecca and Hildy become good friends. Hildy is happy (although she's started drinking secretly) until she discovers a secret about Rebecca and someone else in town. When the secrets start to unravel and there is a mysterious disappearance in town, Hildy begins to question some of her actions. At times funny, sad and poignant, the book is well written and you feel for all of the characters in the story. Ann Leary is the wife of Denis Leary, the comedian. ( )

Hildy Good is a realtor in a small coastal Massachusetts town, where she has lived her entire life. As the narrator of this story she provides insights into the lives of the residents of the town, while having very little insights into her own life. Recently home from 28 days in residential treatment for alcohol abuse after an intervention by her adult daughters, she is in denial and slowly resumes drinking.

Part of the motivation for Hildy knowing everyone else's business is that it gives her an advantage in the local real estate market when people's lives begin to fall apart and homes go up for sale.

Woven into the story is a wealthy young mother, Rebecca, a client of Hildy and new to the small town. And the psychiatrist, Peter, who rents office space in Hildy's building and whom Hildy has known all of her life.

The story is a pretty accurate depiction of progressive alcoholism in a high functioning alcoholic. ( )

I love discovering new-to-me authors and that’s exactly what happened when I decided to read The Good House by Ann Leary. This book has been patiently waiting in my Libby app wishlist for so long I can’t remember how it got on my radar. Sometimes the amount of books waiting to be read on my bookshelves and devices can be overwhelming. In this instance, I let the universe decide my next audiobook by picking a random number, and the universe was extremely gracious to me with this book!

The Good House is set in a small community outside of Boston. Hildy Good is a well-respected, successful real estate agent who knows everyone and what’s happening in town. She’s divorced with two adult daughters, and one grandson. Her daughters organized an intervention because they perceived Hildy as drinking too much. We meet Hildy upon her return from rehab.

Hildy maintains a busy schedule with her business, babysitting her grandson weekly, and spending time with her two dogs. For the most part, her evenings are a bit lonely and being completely abstinent from alcohol isn’t that interesting for Hildy. She sells a house to a couple new to the area and becomes friends with the young wife, Rebecca. The two ladies begin spending time together sharing secrets and a little wine.

Commonly, addiction is progressive, and Hildy’s alcohol use isn’t the only thing in this community that escalates out of control. Many members of this community become apart of the story with their secrets and life struggles.

I was hooked on this story from the very beginning! Ann Leary’s writing is engaging and fascinating. She made me fall in love with her cast of characters, despite their flaws. The description of this book includes the phrase, “darkly comic,” which is perfectly accurate. There is a lot of humor in this story, along with some very seriously frightening, painful moments. As much as I didn’t want the story to end, the conclusion was beautiful.

As I previously mentioned, I borrowed the audiobook from my local library with the Libby app. The story is told from the perspective of Hildy Good and narration by actress Mary Beth Hurt was absolutely perfect!

The Good House has been made into a movie staring Sigourney Weaver as Hildy Good and Kevin Kline as Frank Getchell, Hildy’s love interest. I’ve included the trailer below for your convenience. (Please see the link below for my blog.) The movie looks fantastic! (I’m off to watch it now! 😁) And the story line appears to follow the book quite closely, so it gives you an idea of the treat you are in for when you read the book.

I have photos, videos, and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog ( )

The narrator was such a pleasure.
I enjoyed my time with the story.

Our MC is an older woman, still active in work. There was a bit of romance with an old HS bf. Their relationship comes with the reality of their age and their changes. Their shared time together in their glory (and currently the alcohol) was some of the glue that kept them friends and occasional lovers. The MC's struggles with alcoholism, including her blackouts causing most of the tension/drama/mystery in the story, was interesting.

Some of the sections were 5*, give me more, more, more. (That is a bit of a throw-back to the story)
The inner dialogue of our MC regarding drinking, or the hiding of drinking, or the lies you tell yourself to okay the drinking, or the driving, or the phone calling while buzzed.... seemed spot on and makes me wonder what experience of the author's allowed her to portray it so well.

I was impressed by this author. It's the first time I've read her work and will see what else there is published.

ETA: Just watched the trailer. I'll skip the movie it's too cleaned up. Frank is the garbage man, sloppy, balding. Hildy isn't the beautiful Sigourney Weaver. She is an elderly, out of shape woman who likes to drink alone. And she didn't go swimming in her bra and pants at sunset! She was butt ass naked in the darkness and the moon! ( )

3.5 The book description calls it funny. I totally disagree. It's a sad but fascinating look at an alcoholic and a small town. Beware that the narrator is mostly unlikable and unreliable. ( )