The spectacular : a novel

Summary: The Spectacular looks at what it means to be an unconventional, unapologetic woman. It's the late 1990s and Missy, 22, is exhausted from touring as a cello player in a notorious art rock orchestra experiencing a wave of commercial success and from running away from an unfortunate incident at the border involving a forgotten flap of cocaine. After letting down her bandmates, Missy decides its time she tries to shake the temptations of a touring musician. Ruth, Missy's grandmother, is 83, living in suburban Montreal and enjoying a hot affair with the widower neighbour, when she finds out she is dying. She goes to her childhood home in Turkey in hopes that her wild, party-driven granddaughter will settle down while she is away. Missy's mother, Carola, is off in her own world. After rebelling at an early age from her strict Catholic parents, marrying young and starting a commune where she raised their daughter, Carola realized she had surrounded herself with incompetent people, including her husband. Desperately wanting to be alone, she chooses not to return from a week-long yoga retreat in New Hampshire. She never wanted to be a mother in the first place. Spanning over fifteen years, Whittall follows these three women through life's major turning points. Guided by their own philosophies on sex, relationships and motherhood, Missy, Ruth, and Carola are unwilling to compromise on how they want their lives to be.

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