Jo-Ann Mapson

Four generations of women work hard to support themselves with their small café, while giving to the community in their northern California town.

I got caught up in the family dynamic fairly quickly. Bess Moon (known as Gammy) is the matriarch, who really needs to step away and rest. She’s been solely responsible for her daughter (and granddaughter) since her husband died early in their marriage. Alice / Allegra is Gammy’s free-spirited “hippie” daughter who ran off for a “summer of love” when she was barely sixteen, coming home pregnant and raising her child, Mariah, as best she could with Gammy’s help. Mariah managed to get her master’s and land a teaching position at the local college, though she, too, got pregnant while she was a teenager. Her daughter, Lindsay, is a genius attending an expensive private school and interested in science.

As happens in real life, things get messy. Major illness, loss of a job, bullying and strained budgets are stressing all the Moon women. Not to mention a couple of men added to the mix.

Secrets will come out. Fights will be had. Tears will be shed. At the end, I’m certain the Moon women will find a way to deal with whatever life throws at them.… (mer)