Wethersfield Road
A young woman who once felt broken morphs into a self-sufficient woman with good boundaries in the warm, inviting novel Wethersfield Road.
Anna Binder Reardon’s affecting novel Wethersfield Road is about a woman’s recovery from sexual trauma and addiction.
At twenty-two, Amelia flees from her abusive ex-boyfriend, who attempted to murder her. With her affluent father’s help, she moves into a quaint Texas bungalow whose previous owner claims it has healing properties. Though she goes to therapy, Amelia feels numb. She has Tinder dates, indulges in marijuana and alcohol, purges, and behaves in reckless ways. She yearns for love but settles for chance encounters that increase her isolation. Her only respites are her dog, Delilah, and her show horse, Hope.
Amelia narrates, drifting through thoughts about her past and present. She remembers a variety of men, her parents’ divorce, and her teenage years, including taping herself on a web camera and a failed movie audition. In the course of these ruminations, she expresses some regret, but more often, her memories are shared at a remove. The careful outlay of her disappointments becomes repetitive.
When a fall from her horse prompts Amelia to enter an inpatient rehabilitation program, she decides to change. Her passing thoughts regarding her privilege in being able to do so, however, are inorganic. Further, the novel’s tendency to relay information in a roundabout manner ends up limiting some of Amelia’s interactions with other people: She writes in a journal to reveal her doctors’ diagnoses, which include borderline personality disorder; her fellow patients are hazy presences, just sketched in.
Further, consequential moments of her story are too rushed through: In the span of a few entries, Amelia is discharged from rehabilitation and returns home. Journal entries are also absent for lengthy intervals, making their use somewhat uneven. Also awkward are later insights about misogyny and body politics and references to “Forces of Good,” hinting at a deity without naming Amelia’s belief system outright.
After Amelia returns home, though, the book’s character-study elements become more precise. She is tempted to relapse but receives good advice that helps her maintain her sobriety. She also benefits from outpatient therapy and gradually returns to her past pursuits, including riding Hope for the joy of it, without any thoughts of competitive performing. There are also occasional setbacks, including ill-timed moments spent with the wrong man, but in connecting with others who are also working through sobriety, Amelia becomes a more honest version of herself.
In the redemptive novel Wethersfield Road, a troubled young woman renews her sense of purpose and seeks genuine love.
Reviewed by
Karen Rigby
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
