Hieroglyphics

Married for so long, Lil and Frank don’t always connect as they once did. Their relationship began with the shared bond of losing a parent in childhood, her mother in a fire at a nightclub, his father to a train accident. They grew to love one another and make a family, and now, retired in northern Carolina after a life in Boston, Lil sorts through their memories, reading the hieroglyphics that illustrate the life they’ve made.

Jill McCorkle has long been a voice of honesty; her characters are so real at times that you feel you’ve known them, or been them in some cases. This latest novel is no exception. As Frank tirelessly revisits his childhood home, hoping to be allowed in by Shelley, the new resident and single mom trying to keep her head above water, he also begins to forget things. At one point, Lil writes him a note reminding him never to leave her. And this sentiment, that need for someone else and the love that ties you to them, is at the heart of Hieroglyphics.