Silver Alert by Lee Smith

 

Herb Atlas has lived a good life.  He is quite rich and lives in a mansion in Key West.  He has had a couple of good marriages and children who are now grown.  But as Herb is in his eighties, things are changing.  His beloved wife, Susan, has dementia and needs constant care, something that Herb is not physically able to provide.  Some of the health care professionals he hires Susan likes, some she tolerates and some send her into screaming fits.  Herb is starting to fail physically himself and it's getting tough.

Then comes Renee, really named Dee Dee.  She is a manicurist and has such a sparkling happy personality that everyone is happy around her, especially Susan.  She is the person that can handle Susan's needs the best, although Herb suspects there is more to Renee's background than she is telling.  

Dee Dee is in love.  She met William who lives in a treehouse like apartment.  He seems to do nothing but read and run and make love to her but as time goes on she starts to suspect that he is also from the upper, monied class.  She finds herself pregnant and instead of being happy, William is appalled.

Herb's children all show up and host an intervention.  They insist he can't take care of Susan anymore and they have found a care home that will take them both.  Soon, the house is on the market and everything Herb loves is boxed up to be sold or given to his children.  His life is scooped out from under him.  But is it?  Herb has one more surprise left in him.

Lee Smith is a Southern writing queen.  Very few authors can capture the Southern personality and culture the way that she can.  Her books center on disturbing topics and this one is no different; dementia, child abuse, sexual slavery and fatal illnesses.  But her deft writing comes down on the optimistic sunny side and the book leaves the reader satisfied and full of hope.  This book is recommended for readers of women's and Southern fiction.