Can a married, middle-aged woman find love in a much younger man, without physically cheating on her beloved husband, and then remain friends with the younger man?
In Joanne Greenberg's A Season of Delight, Grace Dowben, a middle-aged woman with two estranged children, helps her husband Saul with his store when not volunteering with the town's fire/rescue team, keeping house, and taking her mother-in-law, Riva, on periodic shopping trips. She is comfortable with her life, though not completely satisfied.
Enter Benjamin Sloan, who works with disturbed kids, and wants to volunteer with the fire/rescue team. Around the time he joins the team, Grace learns that Ben was born into a Jewish family, but lacks any form of religious tradition, something that Grace, Saul, and Riva value. Grace makes it her mission to include Ben in their weekly dinners, as her two children - Josh, now in a Hare-Krishna sect, and Miriam, a divorced feminist - are uninterested.
Between their time on the fire/rescue team and the teaching, Grace and Ben fall in love, but never quite get physical, which makes life a little less complicated, as Grace still loves Saul.
The book weaves Grace's story - rescue calls, her interactions with the team members, her work at Saul's side, her trips with Riva, her devotion to her Jewish faith, her house-keeping, the loss of friends - into a beautifully satisfying book, to be read again and again.
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