Silver Turns To Gold

I finished “Silver Girl,” by Elin Silverbrand, while I was at my cruise last month. It seemed to be the quintessential beach read , and it’s even set at a beach (Nantucket)  But I thought this book had more layers than your average frothy novel.  Ms. Silverbrand knows how to weave a character pretty well, and she was in fine form when she created Meredith Martin, the heroine in here. This character was obviously inspired by Ruth Madoff, let’s not even pretend otherwise. She, as we all probably know, is the wife of Bernard Madoff, who pulled off one of the biggest Ponzi schemes.  Meredith Martin also has a husband who ran a company which ran a similar racket, and the story picks up right after Meredith’s husband has been sent to jail. Meredith, in the middle of the media frenzy, decides to stay at her friend Connie’s beach house.  We get to explore Meredith and Connie’s long, tortured and loving friendship, and that for me is when the novel is at its most vivid best.  Their friendship felt like a real friendship – how complex people get situated in complicated situations, and how we all act, and react, based on emotions, on how these actions affect us, and how we deal with all the effects impact our lives. I immediately found myself emotionally invested in these characters, flaws and all. The ending sort of fizzled out a bit, and some of the plot points in the “mystery” part were too predictable. But never mind about that, “Silver Girl” is a fantastic read. There’s a week left in the Summer of 2011, and I can’t think of a better book to end the season by. 

BC26