The Good Women of Safe Harbour by Bobbi French
This novel follows Frances Delaney through the last weeks of her life. She's recently been diagnosed with a disease that will end her life, but hasn't told anyone about it. She has no close friends, has never had a romantic partner, and lives alone.
She's grown very close to the teenager in the family she is a housekeeper for. They are very well-off and busy and part of her job had been seeing over young Edie when her parents aren't home. This is her final week of work as she worries that her illness is affecting her ability to do things. When she given notice she doesn't tell them why she is leaving, just recommends someone else. Edie is going through her own issues and relies on Frances in a way that is that of close friends. The two have shared many things as Edie has grown up. Now she finds that Edie is determined to stay part of her life and help her in this time.
We see Frances' backstory gradually as she reminisces of her childhood growing up in a small fishing town in Newfoundland, and dealing with her mother's grief after her father's death. Beside her all the time was her best friend Annie and Annie's mom was also a big support in her life. We learn the trauma she went through as a teenager and why she left Safe Harbour and moved to St. John's.
Edie encourages her to return to Safe Harbour and reconnect with Annie, and the results are interesting and involve forgiveness on both sides.
This is a moving story of a woman that felt like an outsider all her life, with a deep yearning for connection, but without natural social skills. I liked seeing the stories of all three characters at the centre of the novel, Frances, Annie, and Edie. They are strong in different ways, and their friendships are very close and complex. Highly recommended.
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