Main Brides

June M. Blurton is a retired speech pathologist.

A woman sits in a restaurant in Montreal smoking and drinking. A
tape-recorder plays loud music, often a mamba. Patrons come and go.
Lydia watches the sun go down; watches the other women, the
“Brides”; imagines their stories. The Brides are all different. They
are lesbian and straight, beautiful and ugly, young and old, but they
have one thing in common—they do not get what they want out of life.
They phone but no one answers. They wait but no one joins them. They
travel but never arrive. Lydia watches them put on a front, just as she
puts on a front, aware that she is being watched as she watches.

This is a novel with interesting characters and insights; however,
neither merits the hard work that goes into reading it. The author
appears to believe that unconventional grammar and punctuation make for
more vivid writing. They do not.