Lawrence and Charles had begun the process of adopting a baby before leaving and had already experienced the heartbreak of being chosen only to have the rug pulled out from them at the last minute. Charles and Franny have been best friends for decades and Lawrence seems resigned to let them enjoy their 'best friend time' and do his own thing. Charles is a painter and Lawrence does the accounting for movies and they enjoy a quiet life split between Manhattan and Provincetown. Franny seems content to pretend nothing is wrong for the duration of the trip but that proves too much for everyone else.Ĭlick here to see the rest of this reviewĬharles and Lawrence are in Mallorca at Franny's request but had reservations about going on a trip with someone else's family. The trip was planned well in advance of Franny finding out about her husband's infidelity with a much younger office assistant at the magazine where is the editor which led to his subsequent early retirement. The house turns out much bigger than expected and easily fits, Franny, her husband (Jim), her daughter (Sylvia), her son (Bobby), her son's live-in, much older girlfriend (Carmen), her best friend (Charles) and Charles' husband (Lawrence). Right from the start, Franny is a planner with all the details taken care of which is generally a recipe for disaster. Franny Post arranged to rent a house in Mallorca for a much needed two week vacation with all the people she loves most. A pleasant, readable journey.Franny Post, a Manhattan based mother of two, plans a vacation to Mallorca, Spain for her family and best friend well before she realizes that their lives are not as ideal as she would have hoped.

While the structure of the novel does feel somewhat unoriginal-it begins with the airport, ends with the plane home, and the chapters in between are days of the trip-Straub uses the simplicity of the organization to her advantage. The pacing is quick but satisfying and the characters themselves feel genuinely complex, interesting, and knowable.

Straub ( Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures) seems to have found her stride. Every couple, and indeed every individual, arrives with a mix of optimism and trepidation, along with a host of uncertainties that, by book’s end, are satisfyingly resolved. Joining them are Sylvia’s older brother and his girlfriend, as well as Franny’s best friend Charles and his husband. The couple’s youngest daughter, Sylvia, has just graduated from high school and her parents are anxious to have one last family holiday before she becomes an adult. The Post family is going to Mallorca for two weeks of vacation, but for them clouds are forming over the sunlit destination: the tickets were already booked when it came to light that Jim, Post père, has recently committed transgressions grave enough to get him fired and infuriate Franny, his wife of 35 years.

The vacationers by emma straub