Still Life with Bread Crumbs

Sixty-year-old Rebecca Winters is having a midlife crisis. Once an iconic photographer, her fame, and sales, have diminished over the years, and money problems have reached a crisis point. She’s long divorced, her son is grown, and she is lonely. To save money, she sublets her Manhattan apartment and rents a ramshackle cottage in the country, where, unexpectedly, she learns about life and herself, rediscovers her love of photography, and connects with Jim Bates, a down-to-earth roofer. Narrator MacDuffie perfectly conveys Rebecca’s worries and self-doubt, her increasing attraction to Jim, and her ultimate sense of confidence and peace. She also creates memorable and believable voices for the other characters—particularly for garrulous Sarah (a village baker) and manly Jim. A Random House hardcover. (Jan.)