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    The Richest Season: A Novel
    The Richest Season: A Novel
    The Richest Season: A Novel
    Audiobook12 hours

    The Richest Season: A Novel

    Written by Maryann McFadden

    Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    After more than a dozen moves in twenty-five years of marriage, Joanna Harrison is lonely and tired of being a corporate wife. Her children are grown and gone, her husband is more married to his job than to her, and now they're about to pack up once more. Panicked at the thought of having to start all over again, Joanna commits the first irresponsible act of her life. She runs away to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, a place she's been to just once.

    She finds a job as a live-in companion to Grace Finelli, a widow who has come to the island to fulfill a girlhood dream. Together the two women embark on the most difficult journey of their lives: Joanna struggling for independence, roots, and a future of her own, as her family tugs at her from afar; and Grace, choosing to live the remainder of her life for herself alone, knowing she may never see her children again.

    Entwined is Paul Harrison's story as he loses his wife, his job, and everything that defines him as a man. He takes off on his own journey out west, searching for the answers to all that has gone wrong in his life. One thing remains constant: He wants his wife back.

    Joanna, however, is moving farther away from her old life as she joins a group dedicated to rescuing endangered loggerhead turtles, led by a charismatic fisherman unlike anyone she's ever met.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateJul 28, 2008
    ISBN9781400178087
    The Richest Season: A Novel

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    Reviews for The Richest Season

    3.5/5

    48 ratings47 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Joanna is a lonely, middleaged, corporate wife who runs from New jersey to Pawleys Island, South Carolina. Here she meets Grace who is on a journey to find meaning for her life.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book immensely. It read easy and I liked the characters. Grace is dying and needs help so she advertises for a companion that will guarantee 6 months of stayng. Joanna is tired of her husbands climb up the corporate ladder and all the moves they've ade. Joanna takes the job, leaves Paul, Paul loses is job and wants her back. Much takes place on Pawleys Island where Grace takes up her painting again. Nice story. Nice characters. I would recommend it
    • 4/5
      A good read. A truly believable family drama that many couples deal with when they become empty nesters. I enjoyed this book very much.
    • 3/5
      The Richest Season is Maryann McFadden's debut novel. I received it through one of my favorite resources - Librarything.com's Early Reviewers.Here's a little blurb from maryannmcfadden.com:Sometimes you have to leave your life to find yourself again...A lonely corporate wife who runs away from home. An elderly woman facing a devastating loss. A top executive adrift in the world after he’s fired. Set on beautiful Pawleys Island, South Carolina, here is a novel about second chances occurring at the most inopportune times in life. In three parallel journeys Joanna, Paul and Grace walk away from lives they thought they wanted, only to rediscover a part of themselves they’d all but forgotten. The story had every element existing to be great. The author had the ability to paint breathtaking word pictures. The setting was everything I look for in a good summer read. The characters were believable. But there was just something missing...I took a writing seminar in college as one of my English electives. It was possibly the best class I've ever been in. I learned more in those three credits than I ever have before. Yes, it made me a better writer, but it also made me a more discerning reader. The professor stressed one point throughout the class; it was: "If you learn nothing else here, know that you must show the reader what is happening...don't simply tell them."I felt that McFadden's missing link was her lack of showing. She told a great story...but that's all she did was tell it. Sentences like, "It was just before the war had ended, and as she watched him coming their way, it appeared he was heading for her cousin Rose, who was sitting beside her." could have been much more artful if we had been shown the action instead of having it narrated to us as readers.I'm not sure if I'm getting across what I am trying to say here, but while I enjoyed the book there were times that I was itching to move on to something that trusted my instinct as a reader and didn't have to spell out every single step for me (pardon the pun).
    • 5/5
      I LOVED this book!! Reading the outside cover of the advance copy where it described how she had to self-publish first, I wondered who did not appreciate how good this book was---I would have grabbed it as soon as I opened to the first page. Mcfadden gives wonderful descriptions of her characters and their conflicting and inter-related problems and it is all so very believable. I kept wondering how she was going to reach some sort of conclusion with all of these people but it all fits together like a wonderful jig saw puzzle---and I was so pleased when it all fit together to make such a worthwhile reading experience. The reading was happiness!! I just hope she is enthused enough to write another book--quickly!
    • 3/5
      Mayann McFadden is most definitely the hottest up and coming author! Don't miss this one and her latest - "So Happy Together!" " You will want to read all her books, especially the new one - the Book Lover!
    • 3/5
      Joanna is a "corporate widow"--a woman whose husband is married to his job and has been for the last 20 years. She decides to leave and lands on an island in the Carolinas. This book follows her life and evolution as she establishes a new life and a new identity. I liked this book, but it does have its flaws. The pacing is choppy, and some of the plot developments seem to hit a wrong note because they seem very out of character. However, the plot moves along and it kept my interest enough to keep me reading into the night to finish the book. Even though the end is fairly predictable, it's still satisfying. Joanna and her housemate, Grace, are likeable characters and you feel for their predicaments. The male characters are less well developed, but are still interesting enough. This isn't great literature, but it's a really pleasant read.
    • 3/5
      Enjoyable book, quick read. The author gives you a decent feel for the landscape and environment of the South Carolina low country without over dwelling on it. The relationships could and should have been more detailed, instead they were glossed over (I'm sure to keep the book to a quick, readable length). The main character's "best friend" has no more than a fleeting reference made about her and is never heard about again?? The downside for me was that it was all wrapped up with a bow. It would have been so much more memorable had McFadden left something to the readers imagination.
    • 5/5
      As a corporate wife myself, the minute I open this book, I had the feeling I was reading my life. A dangerous book to read as The Richest Season will make you ask questions about your present life... I just love this one. So full of surprises and new developments, a definitaly page turning one. What a life this book has!
    • 4/5
      I finished this novel and really enjoyed the story. It wasn't very deep but at the same time it was. I was happy to see the husband in the story grow and find happiness rather than work. I liked how the children were supportive of their mother but still willing to keep their father their life. All around a good story of a family and the growth that needs to happen and got to happen in this book.
    • 5/5
      There comes a time in all our lives that we face changes that push us to make different choices than we might normally make. This book is about Joanna, who reaches that point, and how the choices she makes affect her world and the people in it, and how those choices ultimately change her life for the better. I could identify with a number of the events and settings related in the story, and therefore enjoyed the leisurely pace as it allowed me to let my own memories flow along with the story. That being said, I still read this book in less than a week. It's not a book that you can't put down, but rather one that draws you back. A kind of window into the life of the characters. As such, I found the characters as realistic and comfortable as anyone I might meet and become friends with. I was thrilled and encouraged with each step that Joanna took from being a supportive wife and loving mother, to finding herself and becoming a strong, self-assured woman. I would definitely recommend this book to friends.
    • 5/5
      Sometimes you have to leave your life behind in order to finally find yourself. So it is for Joanna Harrison: perfect wife and mother of twenty-five years. Joanna finds herself at a crossroads in her life - after more than a dozen moves over the span of a twenty-five year marriage, she is lonely, bored, and tired of playing the role of a corporate wife.Her children are grown and gone, her husband is more married to his job than he is to her, and now they're about to pack up once more. Joanna just can't take any more. Panicked at the thought of having to start all over again, she commits the first irresponsible act of her life. She runs away to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, a place she has been to just once.She finds a job as a live-in companion to Grace Finelli, a widow who has come to the island to fulfill a girlhood dream. Together the two women embark on the most difficult journey of their lives: Joanna struggling for independence, roots, and a future of her own, while her family tugs at her from afar; and Grace, choosing to live the remainder of her life for herself alone, knowing she may never see her children again.Entwined is Paul Harrison's story as he loses his wife, his job, and in effect, everything that defines him as a man. He takes off on his own journey out west, searching for the answers to all that has gone wrong in his life. One thing remains constant: he wants his wife back. Joanna, however, is moving further away from her old life as she joins a group dedicated to rescuing endangered loggerhead turtles, led by a charismatic fisherman unlike anyone she's ever met. This is Ms. McFadden's debut novel - a stunning story of three very different people, each changing their lives at a time when such transformations are usually long over. In my opinion, this book was delightful. I found myself quickly engrossed in the lives and various predicaments of the characters, rooting for them all to come through their own difficulties relatively unscathed. I give this book an A+! and look forward to reading Ms. McFadden's next book sometime in the future.
    • 5/5
      Watching her husband, Paul, step towards the podium to accept his promotion was a defining moment for Joanna Harrison. As he accepted congratulations from friends and co-workers, Joanna realized that his promotion to vice president was a surprise only to her. Joanna is a corporate wife, following her husband from city to city, state to state, never putting down roots. The years pass and she looses her sense of self as she raises her children, Sara and Tim, supervises the many moves, and becomes little more than a shadow to her usually absent husband.Once I was a corporate wife, therefore, it was easy to understand what caused Joanna to get in her car and leave. With her children grown and husband away on business there was little to hold her. Maryanne McFadden depicts a woman of little self-assurance reaching a point where her need to escape was stronger than her fear and insecurity. We see Paul as a self-centered individual who at first sees his wife’s leaving only as a personal inconvenience.As one who has lived through generational changes in life expectations, it was interesting to watch them so realistically portrayed by Ms. McFadden. Each is described with compassion from the work ethic and acceptance of an earlier generation to one where the goal is ever just beyond reach to the one where knowledge and acceptance of self is paramount. I felt the words on the pages were as paint on a canvass depicting how the impressions and life experience of others formed the personalities of Joanna and Paul. Descriptions of the waves, sand, wind, and wildlife of the South Carolina coast are beautifully portrayed. As Paul in the process of finding himself drives across the country, the reader could almost be sitting beside him watching the scenery pass by. The people both Joanna and Paul meet on their journeys of self-discovery are genuine and come alive on the pages.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and look forward to her next one. Her writing is visually pleasing and entertaining, a wonderful first novel.
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. Both of these women won my heart. I was really sad at the end but overall it was an inspiring book.
    • 4/5
      Joanna and Paul have been married for 25 years and, facing yet another corporate move and an empty nest, Joanna has had enough. She heads to South Carolina to figure out what she wants from life. I found the character of Paul to be very real......in fact I know and live near many "Pauls". His understanding of his role as breadwinner and all the sacrifices he believed it required made for thoughtful reading. I enjoyed Paul's growth as a husband and a father.I did not find the character of Joanna to be believable. I did appreciate Joanna's anger at Paul and her choice to leave. But Joanna's other decisions baffled me. She was married to a high powered manager, ran a home and had two college aged children - yet at 45 she just up and left with no plan. No thought to where, how long, how to pay for it. This did not ring true. If she floated through life with so little forethought, she deserved the treatment she received. Joanna came off as a weak and childish women. The end of the book did not surprise me in the least.Mixed in were many side stories of the children, a dying land lord, a lover, sea turtles...........perhaps too many to do them justice.Good beach read but could have been so much more.......
    • 3/5
      When Joanna hears a voice in her head telling her to leave, she does. She picks up and goes to Pawley's Island where she starts a new life. There is just enough in this story to make it better than a beach fluff book. I love that the characters all learn something about themselves as the story progresses. There are also no heroes in this story. Every character has very real flaws and a very real lives. This was a very enjoyable read.
    • 4/5
      On the face of it, Maryann McFadden’s tale of Joanna Harrison, a disenfranchised corporate wife, is a familiar one. However, in Ms McFadden’s hands the story transcends that of an unhappy wife.After her husband Paul surprises her at a supposed corporate dinner party that is actually a celebration of his latest promotion, one he had not told her about. Joanna becomes depressed and restive. Her children are grown, one out of college the other a Junior. The thought of moving yet again and finding her way in another new town and that Paul will be traveling even more, cause her to reevaluate her life. She realizes that she has spent the majority of her married life as a ‘single parent’ or alone. Impulsively she packs a few bags and drives to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, a place she fell in love with years ago.Paul is surprised and angry when he discovers Joanna gone, leaving only a note and a voice mail message. He is ill, harassed with work and travel. He rationalizes his behavior by telling himself that everything he’s done has been for his family and Joanna is ungrateful and selfish to pull this vanishing act on him. He is even more surprised and angry when she refuses to return with him after he tracks her down.Joanna has found a job as a companion for an elderly woman. She finds herself at sea, emotions coming and going:fear, anger, resentment, sorrow and guilt. As one day follows another, then one week another and finally months; Joanna begins to sort herself out . Her relationship with Grace, her employer, is fraught with frustration, the woman is demanding and distant, needy and cold. She needs help, yet seems to resent Joanna’s presence in her home.Joanna begins to understand that she learned early to make herself invisible, to go along to get along. She learns to leave past behaviors and responses behind. She finds happiness inside herself.Ms. McFadden’s prose is wonderfully evocative, her descriptions of Pawleys Island and of Grace’s artistic reawakening are beautiful. I look forward to reading more of her work.
    • 5/5
      A fantastic read. I love the way MaryAnn writes,. I hated to put the book down so lost was I in the story. I think alot of women can relate to her characters.
    • 3/5
      I truly was looking forward to reading this book but was disappointed in this book. I didn't care for either Paul or Joanne. After 26 years of marriage JoAnne decides she has had enough and walks out on her marriage. She leaves her husband a voice mail message and tells him she is leaving him. His reaction is to wait his wife out. She will calm down by the time he returns from his buisness trip and he can get her to get involved in the move. Joanne takes a job caring for an elderly woman who is dying of cancer. If I could have had some sympathy for either of the main characters I might have enjoyed the book a little better. Joanne is one of the most self-centered characters I have read in awhile.
    • 4/5
      DATE:June 30, 2008TITLE:The Richest SeasonAUTHOR:McFadden, MaryPUBLISHER:COPYRIGHT:2008RATING:4 of 5Life choices change for all of us over time. Priorities, and those things that provide satisfaction and comfort can also change many times over in each of our life times. How couples stay together or don’t is at best a gamble. Paul and Joanna are just one example among many that looked on the outside like one that would last, and yet it was simply covered by a thin veneer of tolerance that finally gave way one day. So begins Joanna’s search for what will satisfy her and what she wants for her life.Ms. McFadden has taken parts of many marriages to weave this tale of two women of different generations that meet and share the trials of their married lives and individual dreams unfulfilled. I was pulled into their stories early and as their stories progressed, I started to read slower and slower as a means of making the story last longer. I played this game of trying to figure out which way each story would turn and yet right to the end I was held at bay. I commend Ms. McFadden on her first novel and look forward to reading more of her work.
    • 5/5
      "That's the thing about writin', Harley said, leaning back in his chair. "It's never just a job. You make people think, you sway their feelin's. It's a gift. And a power." page 179 of The Richest Season (McFadden).I do believe this sums up how I felt about your book. What a wonderful journey through 2 women's lives into frightening territory...obtaining a meaningful life of your own and coming to the end of your life. Joanna is a middle aged woman with grown children and a corporate husband who has seldom had time to be home for her or the kids. She is lonely and searching for something so she abandons all she knows to find it.Grace is an older woman who knows she is terminally ill and does not know how to handle it or what to expect. The two women's journey's become intertwined and they ultimately help one another to find their way.I thought this book was wonderful. I related from page one to Joanna's pain and loneliness and enjoyed how Ms McFadden gave us a glimpse into her heart and the process of finding her own way. Being in the medical field and having had the opportunity to share in many patients dying days, I found Grace believable and authentic. This book makes you reassess what's important and how to be true to yourself. Beautifully written...can't wait to see what comes next from Ms McFadden. Bravo!
    • 3/5
      The Richest Season is a novel with three plot lines: Joanna, the lonely corporate wife who, faced with yet another promotion for her husband (and consequently, another move) decides she's had enough. Joanna gets in her car and winds up on Pawley's Island, South Carolina. Then there's Grace, an elderly woman facing a terminal illness who has come to Pawley's Island to end her life her way. Finally, there's Paul, Joanna's husband. Paul is irritated and confused by Joanna's flight, but soon finds himself with more issues to deal with, issues that he, for the first time, will have to figure out on his own. Ms. McFadden self published this book before Hyperion took over and kudos should be given to her for that. While I enjoyed the book overall, it was not one of those "can't put it down until I finish it" books I so love. I had a hard time relating to, or even sympathizing with, Joanna. The irony of not being able to handle another move to another house in another state and yet that is exactly what she does is not touched on. Joanna seems a bit standoffish to me, even when housing, jobs and friends are practically handed to her as soon as she arrives on Pawley's Island. Grace, too, did not garner the sympathy I would expect to have for a character going through a terminal illness. While it's almost painstakingly spelled out for you why she chooses to deal with this issue in the way she does, Grace's character, and her emotional ups and downs during this time fell a little flat. While logically I could understand some of her decisions, I just couldn't emotionally connect with her. Paul, on the other hand, was the most filled out character in the book (although I don't think this was the intention of the author). When Paul's life is completely turned around and upside down in a matter of days and he must, for the first time, discover who he is, what he wants and how to go about getting it - he's the one I ended up rooting for. I will also say the ending of the book was a little hurried and wrapped up too neatly.The Richest Season is a good "beach" book: enough plot lines to hold your interest but you'll have no problem putting it down occasionally to do other things.
    • 3/5
      I had mixed feelings about this book. I didn't feel that the characters were really believable ~ the relationship between Grace and Joanna seemed disjointed. The drastic change of Joanna's husband, Paul, after she left him didn't seem realistic. I didn't like Grace's character because I couldn't get a grasp on her true personality....it was all over the place. I felt the reunion at the family house (Joanna's) was unrealistic.On the positive side, the book seemed to have good flow, despite the flaws. The descriptions of the beach, especially the hurricane near the end, was very good. The relationship between Joanna and Hank was good, although the "other woman", Rhetta, didn't seem particularly necessary to the story and her presence felt out of place.Although the book read smoothly, and was well written, the story itself felt like an Anne Rivers Siddons or Anita Shreve "wannabe" and didn't have the polish or refinement of either.Perhaps with time and experience, this author will figure out how to smooth the rough edges and produce something truly unforgettable.
    • 4/5
      This book pulled me in from the very start. Joanna is someone that I immediately liked and empathized with. She needed a change in her life and she just went for it. This book is well written and you really care about what happens to the characters.
    • 3/5
      When Joanna - her two children grown and gone from the house - is faced with the possibility of another relocation due to her husband Paul's job, she decides that she's had enough of always being an after-thought to him. She packs her bags and moves to the beach. In exchange for a room in her oceanfront home, Joanna agrees to serve as caretaker for Grace, an elderly woman who is facing her final days. "The Richest Season" shows us characters who are learning how important it is to know who we really are, independent of the others in our lives; while at the same time seeing that no one can survive as an island. While many of the plot turns in "The Richest Season" are fairly predictible, you'll come to care for its characters so much that you won't really mind.
    • 3/5
      When life isn't going the way you expect or hope it to, one (sometimes appealing) option is to run away. This book covers one lady's story of taking her life into her own hands, going where she wants, not where her husband moves her to. The book is full of emotions and in the end, the main characters are better because she did "run away".
    • 3/5
      The Richest Season, in my opinion was just okay. The story was readable but nothing to rave about and the character development was marginal. While I think McFadden does have a lot of potential in her writing style (her depictions of the setting are vivid and well-written), there were moments of repetitive phrasing that I think better editing would correct. As an aside, I received an ARC of this book, and the cover is rather ugly. I do think the cover on LT is more appealing and a better choice.
    • 1/5
      Ok I just couldn't get into this book. The characters did not interest me in the least and the writing just did not grab me. I put it down after the 50 page rule. I hopefully will try to pick it up again at a later date. I've done that w/ other books and reading them again I ended up liking them better the 2nd time. Sorry Maryann McFadden...
    • 3/5
      This book is a journey of self discovery and friendships. It was a good read, i would reccomend it to others. McFadden is a very descriptive writer, and gives you a very good written "visual" of the character's and the setting. The story at times was predictable, but overall i enjoyed the book... definitely a good summer read!
    • 4/5
      Joanna is a wife to a highly successful corporate husband. After being surprised with his latest promotion and realizing it would mean packing up for another move, and less time together with her husband, she packs up and goes to Pawley's Island, a place she discovered years ago. Confronted by depleting funds, she takes up a job caring for Grace, an elderly woman. From there she slowly starts to heal and does some soul searching.After Paul, her husband, realizes it's not just "another thing" and she wasn't coming back, then loses his job, he starts to do some soul searching of his own. He reconnects with his children, repairing the relationships with them. He rediscovers the joys of working with wood, and meets new people in his neighborhood because of it. He also realizes that money doesn't necessarily buy happiness, especially if you don't have someone to share it with.Through it all, the story flowed nicely. The characters all had a story to them, and when their story was revealed it didn't take away from the story, but added to it nicely. When McFadden talks about the beach, you can almost feel as if you're there as well. It's light, and good for a beach read, though I think with the beach scenes, it might be nicer to read during the cold winters!