Thoughts & Review on "Mrs. Saint & the defectives" by Julie Lawson Timmer

Thoughts & review on "Mrs. Saint & the defectives" by Julie Lawson Timmer 

“The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people.” 
― G.K. Chesterton


“Good neighbors always spy on you to make sure you are doing well.” 
― Pawan MishraCoinman: An Untold Conspiracy


(quote Courtesy- Goodreads.com)

When I had glanced at novel's cover on Reddit.com, & without any biased preconceptions in my mind, i thought that "Mrs.Saint and the defectives", must be a novel about a lady named Mrs.Saint and her gang of defectives, who were actually superheroes in disguise. I was partly right. 

Oddly enough i am reminded of this line, said by a long time but not forgotten friend- "Don't you think, everyone is a hero in their own life?"

I was much reminded of shenanigans, generosity, warmth, love of my neighbors while reading this novel. Too many warm memories were rekindled while reading this book &  terrible ones too. For eg- how a old woman drew out the baby bat & the very enthusiastic me out of her home. Memories are a tricky thing and this novel is definitely not about me. 

Markie a middle aged married woman, with a elite status in the society she resides in, finds that her very handsome husband Kyle is cheating on her. She accidentally stumbles upon a sleazy video of her husband with another woman. This breaks all hell loose in their flaky marital world and upon much frowning & disapproval  from her parents, Markie divorces her husband Kyle and leaves the city with her teenage son Jesse. 

Markie resigns from her job at St.Mark , sells her home, leaves her high-profile life style with a trade off for a middle class American Style, because she comes to know her about her husband's splurging habits. The mother & son duo take a home at lease & began their lives with second- hand sad beginnings.

Markie, is sad that her marriage has turned into a null, void. Kyle, a husband with which she had hoped to live a forever together life, while accepting his misgivings, withdraws into a shell and takes up a job from home as a claim reviewer. 

Her son Jesse dealing with divorce in his own way, who mostly blames Markie for their divorce. He is blissfully unaware that the divorce came into picture, due to his father's infidelity and his inability to handle their finances which drove them bankrupt. 

Enter their new neighbor, a bossy French-Canadian woman Mrs.Saint who tiptoes into their lives quite loudly. She seems to be a woman with a mysterious past who has taken a crew of house helpers of various quirks, qualities and faults. Fredirique, who is the all in one foreman, handyman and a soft task master to other house helpers -Bruce- a gardener, Patty- cleaner & her daughter-Lola &  Ronda- Cook. 


Mrs.Saint starts slowly by intruding in Markie's life much to Markie's annoyance. She starts taking up space in Markie's life. Mrs.Saint comes across as this wealthy widow,whose sole purpose is to collect every such defective and give them a life of dignity and work with pay. 

Even with such noble attributes, Mrs.Saint's pesky interest in Markie's life brings their relationship to an edgy level. 

With a minor vandalism incident in Jesse's life, his life changes in a good way. Mrs.Saint gifts him a dog named Angel & a series of jobs so that he can pay for the damage he made. 

Its here, where the story takes a pause and lingers around the same premise, where Mrs.Saint is politely forcing her way into the lives of Markie & Jesse. Jesse takes up tutoring Lola to repay for the vandalism & gradually start looking forward to spend time with the neighbors.  

Towards the end, Markie gets closer and founds a friend in Patty and forms an amiable relationship with Mrs.Saint & her motley crew of helpers. She gets on good terms again with her ex husband Kyle and moves on with her life.

In between, through out the novel, there are flash backs of Markie & Kyle's marriage, where the burden to show an upper middle class marriage of status & pomp falls on Markie's shoulders. There are flashes of Markie's childhood with her overbearing parents, Lydia & Clayton.

The novel which begins with a familiar idea of a recent divorced woman moving to a different town to start everything fresh, finds herself free  & lives the way she wants to live without any burden to keep up any false social status. 

The story towards the end, takes a minor drastic turn, when instead of being that easy novel to read it compels you to sit back and think about forgiveness, regrets, past & love. 

The characters in the book are crafted really well. Anyone can identify with Markie's desperation and her trials to cope up with life, her son Jesse, the nosy neighbor Mrs.Saint & her loyal crew. The language is the daily language we use in day to day life, the characters are not out of this world , they are our day to day acquaintances & neighbors. Julie Lawson Timmer  introduces humor in subtle ways in the novel.

The in between French dialect used by Mrs.Saint doesn't sound forced. The terse and tensed relationship between Markie & her parents is portrayed well. The graph of Markie & her ex husband's relationship from bitter to bitter sweet is shown well. 

This novel though both equally belongs to Markie & Mrs.Saint. They are both polar opposites. Both of them are struggling with their past & trying to build a better life. Markie comes across as an independent yet emotionally worn out woman & Mrs.Saint comes across as a woman who wants to fix everyone's lives including her own.

As a reader, i did have this one question , that why did Markie never confessed to her son about his father's misgivings. Why was she a martyr in her own dying relationship. 

Above all, the one recurring theme subtly shown through out the book, is about giving second chances.  

This was the first book i read by Julie Lawson Timmer. I am definitely looking forward to read more books written by her. 

Book Name- Mrs.Saint and the defectives.
Genre - Fiction
No.of pages- 328 (kindle version)
ISBN-13: 9781477819968
Book Source- Reader's Own Copy
You can buy the book from- Amazon Infibeam

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