Learning to drive

Raised as a Christian Scientist in upstate New York, Charlotte McGuffey has always striven to be perfect and has trusted the power of her thoughts to protect her from life's troubles. But when her newly estranged husband dies on a trip out of town, leaving her to raise their two young sons on her own, Charlotte realizes that her problems are too complex for her to master with the power of her mind alone.Accompanied by her boys, Charlotte goes to the family's summer home in Beede, Vermont, WHERE her husband, Mel, was last seen alive, to look for answers about his final days and to grapple with her feelings of confusion and guilt surrounding his death. As Charlotte explores this new world, she is befriended by her neighbors in Beede--a colorful lot who are concerned, helpful, very human, and decidedly imperfect. Among them are a kind and perceptive postmistress/reporter, a garrulous caretaker, and an unlikely suitor--a joyous and charismatic artist at war with conventional thinking.In this eclectic environment, Charlotte begins to explore her own feelings and question the fundamental beliefs she's accepted her whole life. To triumph, she must untangle her family's doctored past and brave encounters with painful truths she has never wanted to face. In this bighearted, lush, and graceful debut novel, Mary Hays portrays the strength of the human spirit in times of crisis and the ways in which community can foster individual growth. Learning to Drive stakes claim to a world in which all things solid seem to shape-shift, people juggle reality to fit their beliefs, and women are deeply passionate about the choices they make.From the Hardcover edition.