Patty Jane's House of Curl

This novel by Lorna Landvik follows Patty Jane and her sister Harriet from the 1950s through the 1980s, through love, loss, birth, death, second chances and always the triumph of the human spirit. After Patty Jane is abandoned by her handsome, irresponsible husband, his mother Ione moves in to help care for newborn Nora while Patty Jane decides how to support them. She opens a beauty parlor in their home, which becomes a support group; even a school. Harriet's one true love dies in a plane crash, she finds solace in drink. She is helped from the gutter by a policeman who is a reformed alcoholic; they marry. Patty Jane and her male manicurist get together; and her husband returns, with interesting ramifications. This was an entertaining story, in the style of Forest Gump and Lake Woebegone.