The Year of the Lucy

by Anne McCaffrey

The illegitimate daughter of a glamorous concert singer and a rakish, celebrated portrait painter, Mirelle Martin has spent mostof her adult life trying to conform to the standards of middle-class suburbia. Denying her artistic heritage and largely ignoring her own great gift as a sculptress, she has devoted herself to being a wife to Steve and a mother to Tonia, Nick and Roman. For fifteen years this has seemed to be enough, but during the year of The Lucy major events are to happen that will change the lives of all of them.

On impulse, Mirelle decides to begin a sculpture of Lucy, the friend who, years go, encouraged her to develop her talent and ignore the narrow minds who looked askance at her exotic and unconventional upbringing. Memories of Lucy, now gone, stir an emotional rebellion which will culminate in a dramatic and surprising upheavel. Meeting James Howell, a charming concert pianist--as out of palce in suburbia as she--will ultimately lead her to discover new things about herself and acknowledge an identity she has sought desperately to conceal.

Genres: Romance, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American writer known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, Weyr Search, 1968) and the first to win a Nebula Award (Best Novella, Dragonrider, 1969). Her 1978 novel The White Dragon became one of the first science-fiction books to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list.
In 2005 the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America named McCaffrey its 22nd Grand Master, an annual award to living writers of fantasy and science fiction. She was inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on 17 June 2006. She also received the Robert A. Heinlein Award for her work in 2007.

Reviews

[Connie G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mirelle Martin is a wife and mother trying to balance her domestic life with her creative life as a sculptress. She also has to assert herself with her domineering mother-in-law who is upset that her son married the illegitimate daughter of an opera singer and a portrait painter.

"The Lucy" is a sculpture of her deceased friend, Lucy, who encouraged Mirelle to develop her artistic talent. Mirelle becomes a stronger person as she looks beyond her roles of wife and mother during an eventful year. Influenced by some new friends, including an attractive pianist, she becomes more involved with others in her Delaware community. She also carves out time for herself to work with clay.

Occasionally, the book which set in 1961 and written in 1986, felt a little dated. But overall, it held my interest.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the one McCaffrey book that I didn't own. I didn't even know it existed until I came across it in the San Francisco library. It is one of her few straight fiction novels. Set in New England, it features a middle-aged artist who faces a crisis in her marriage. Just re-read it. Much more apt to a mother, than it was when I read it as a single girl. Somehow, I didn't realize it was set in 1961 the first time I read it.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought that I had read this before, but it turns out that I hadn't, so it was a very nice surprise to me.

Ironically, it was set in 1961, the year I was born, and it was very much of those times in the behaviours and mores of the people written about.

I'm not big into romance, and this was presented as such but, personally, I felt it more a kind of coming of age, in it's own way.

But I have to say this story surprised me, not really so much with the infidelity, and domestic violence being a part of it, as that's something that, though frowned on now, and talked about freely, is still a part of too many women's lives, even 60 years later, unfortunately.

But, despite these, I saw in the characters, and plotlines, the same deft care, and attention to detail in the story, that I had learned to expect years ago from any of the fantasy and SciFi that Anne wrote so very well - though her writing fiction of this kind shouldn't have surprised me, really!


As a mother myself, I had a lot of sympathy for Mirelle, especially with the situation with her mother-in - law (I was very lucky with mine, thank heavens), and understood that clash of conflicting needs and wants that she had to juggle with in order to keep the peace in her family.

I'm just very grateful that I had a husband who encouraged me always to be whatever I wanted to be, and hang the housework, and am totally grateful to have been born in a generation that had those choices - I guess Mirelle, bin her own way, was lucky to have the support of friends who knew what she needed to be whole - and they certainly helped her to obtain it.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two things off the bat: this is not sci-fi/fantasy, no matter what people are shelving this as; and this is very, very of its time, both in its problems and just the general tone. There's marital abuse and a firm expectation that men and women will exist in their own spheres. The women wait at the door after work, the men cheat, and so on.

In that way, though, it's exactly what I expected from a contemporary McCaffrey romance. Even though her characters are well developed and the plot is engaging, there's always this expectation that 'men will be men' or 'women will be women' even if this is subverted slightly. It's frustrating at the best of times, and in a contemporary story (at the time of publication) it's even more so as the abuse gets hand waved away. Mirelle's husband straight up excuses his physical abuse as her '[driving me] to hurt [her] physically' because she's a bit withdrawn.

Also, McCaffrey always has a moment when describing her main woman character by ascribing one of her physical traits to a minority group/European country and implying that it's ugly. (In Mirelle's case it's her 'prominent' and 'Hungarian' cheekbones.)

Despite all that, I really enjoyed it. I like McCaffrey's characters, who are always deeper than their flaws (though not necessarily likeable as people), and the story improved dramatically after the first half when they started to overcome their 'of the time' ideals. I'd recommend it to anyone looking to read more McCaffrey but are put off by her focus on SSF, or for fans of stories like A Streetcar Named Desire.

[Tiff91 · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok this is going to contain spoilers so beware



mirelle is married to steve (who by the way is a jackass of the highest order) he accuses her of cheating, expects her to be ashamed of who her parents are, a man who cheats on his wife and she knows it but expects it really you have 3 kids 2 sons and a daughter, and this is the example that is set for them and then towards the end i thought yes she slept with OM that she was going to leave his ass but no she stays with the prick.. who hits her and whacks their daughter across the face aswell... i loved the kids though and sylvia and jamie.

the mother in law was an absolute dragon!!!!

im so glad that i dont have that problem

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a usual Anne McCaffrey book....but her descriptions of things and the interactions between characters was wonderful. An intriguing book....it was nice to see the development of the main character as the book went along...

[Jennifer Paluzzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard-to-find McCaffrey romance that is very of its time. Warning: domestic violence.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book ends up romanticizing an abusive relationship

[Natasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fantastically well written novel. While I wasn't a fan of the turn the story took, I at least enjoyed the writing along the way. Great character development, dialogue, and scene setting.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read although dated

[Kathryn Culley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The annual reread.

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading this story and thought, I like it better when Ms. McCaffrey writes sci-fi. I'm not as fond of the romances. This one wasn't something I liked so much. I think it's because I was young and idealistic. The middle age crisis scared me. What scared me more was how Mirelle lost herself as a wife and mother. It made me question, why would a woman ever want to marry and have kids? This was one of the books which convinced me getting married is worse than death for a woman.

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over the years, Mirelle Martin has allowed herself to be bullied into suppressing her artistic nature, her lovingly- and-skillfully done sculptures. Her once love-filled marriage is now exhausting, and Mirelle tends to arrange her life around her children. However, she is about to meet new people who somewhat knowingly and somewhat unknowingly send her life into a tailspin which just might set it straight again.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Year of the Lucy
McCaffrey, Anne
a love story, from one of the best authors in the world, it was a fiction story in modern times, a total divergent from the science fiction that she was known for.

[Janell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a favorite author but this book was just too dated for me. Infidelity and abuse was the accepted norm for the husbands with the wives accepting this as completely normal. After all, men just can't help themselves. (sigh) 1 1/2 stars

[Sharron · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have thoroughly read and enjoyed all on Anne McCaffrey's "Pern" series. Her "The Year of the Lucy" is quite different. Her character, Mirelle, is a loving wife & mother with "baggage" of her past attached. It was a good read.

I'm sorry, I don't give good reviews.

[Celina and Don · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

[Irene Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Anne McCaffrey's Sci-fantasy books but enjoyed it when she wrote contemporary fiction as well.

[Gail Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting, but definitely not sci-fi