Book review: Ladder of years by Anne tyler

In this book, we meet the character Delia who is a 40 year old woman married to a doctor called Sam Grinstead with three kids Sam 21, Ramsay 19 and carroll 15. After many years of marriage she begins to feel expendable; like an extra in her husband and children's lives. She misses the days when her children were young, before they turned hard-shelled. Her boys -in her own words- have grown whiskers and her daughter has bought a diary with a unpickable brass lock. She feels left out and unwanted.

One day during a family vacation by the seaside Delia walks away from it all wearing nothing but her bathing suit and a tote bag with 500 dollars inside. She runs away from her life to begin a new one. Her family thinks she has vanished without a trace and starts to look for her and eventually report to the police and the search continues.

What annoys Delia even more is when they put out an Ad asking for her whereabouts and they do not even know the colour of her eyes or what she is wearing which serves to make her decision to leave justified in her eyes. Now you will have to get the book to know how the story unfolds. I promise you won't be disappointed.

ps. In the final pages of the book there is a record of an interview of the author which will give you an insight into what was going through Anne Tyler's head when she wrote this book. great book this one!