Young Susan Byrne was stuck in her hometown of Salem in the best acting job she could get-she played a witch sentenced to death at a small museum in town. After the umpteenth time of acting the role in the exact same way, she begged her boss to let her change it up, to no avail. At the same time Al Bliss, a Harvard instructor who was there to see the museum's archives, overheard the exchange and sympathized with Susan, especially since the air conditioner wasn't working on that hot summer day. She decided to quit her job and gave the performance of her life before she left, and Al suggested a drive to a swimming hole. He was timid, she was bold, and they fell in love immediately. Impulsively they were married and she moved to his Boston apartment. She still wanted to act but New England wasn't the place to land roles. Her sister found a national ad from a soap opera shooting in California that sounded perfect, and Susan was invited to audition. She and Al flew across country to the studio and Susan nailed the role, but Al wouldn't leave the East and his students, while Susan wanted that job and all that went with it. Their compromise was that Susan would shoot four days a week and return to Boston for the weekend. Neither was happy with the solution but neither would budge from their position.
Both were successful in their careers-Al was a rising star as he negotiated the Harvard tenure track, and Susan made her small role a major one with her amazing acting skills. She developed a friendship with Orson Grey, a young actor who was often paired with her, and they had each other's backs, but the trades saw them as more than friends. When she would return to Boston, she didn't fit in with Al's friends, although she made the effort. They often fought about their respective jobs, but as much as they loved each other, neither would give in.
Susan became pregnant with twins and Al was ecstatic. He purchased an old house in a small village near Boston and waited for Susan to quit her job, She had other ideas-her friends and co-workers wrote scripts around her pregnancy and shot her scenes hiding her torso, until the boss found out and fired her. Susan finally came back to live with Al and had the babies-but she was unsatisfied with motherhood and negotiated her old job back-leaving Al to raise the children while she returned to the soap. When the twins were seven, Susan got a diagnosis of incurable aggressive cancer, and the soap finally killed off her character, sending her home to die with Al and their children.
The second part of the novel deals with how the family copes after Susan's death. The twins are in their last year of high school and though very close, are completely different. Sebastian is an artistic outsider who won't study or take school seriously and is always in trouble. Al has given up trying to reason with him, especially now when his son begins devoting himself to finding out everything related to Susan's life and career. Viola is a serious scholar with her pick of college acceptances. She has few friends and doesn't date, but nurses a secret crush on Orson, her mother's old colleague. His career flourished and is now a famous movie star, while Viola is just one of his fans-or is she?
The novel does a good job of presenting an insurmountable situation which somehow works for both Susan and Al, but not as well for their children. Each character has a story and we are shown all of them, along with the various time periods in which the incident occurs. That sometimes becomes confusing, so it's best to note the dates beginning each chapter. I see this as an intriguing premise for a book discussion-would you sacrifice your life's work to support your spouse, and how will the next generation cope with your choices? Is life just a soap opera?
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