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Tony's dealing with divorce and a weight problem. Novelist Sean is up against a serious case of writers block and a shock announcement from his 'perfect' new girlfriend. And their parents have a new lodger, Gervase.
But why is Bernie, their mum, so keen to give this unsavoury waif a home? And what is the real reason for kid brother Ned's surprise return from his travels in Australia?
But as plans are made for the party of the decade‚ the secret heartaches the four women have kept hidden‚ even from each other‚ begin to emerge. Are any of them strong enough to deal with the truth about themselves and their golden lives?
This heart-warming and heart-wrenching story is an impressive first book for Moriarty. She captures all the best and worst of family relationships - siblings, parents, spouses, and children - while balancing the heavy parts with funny bits of mayhem and wicked humor. The point of view alternates between the sisters and the story bounces back and forth in time, but never gets confusing. Interspersed between the chapters are little vignettes about how the triplets have touched the lives of strangers throughout the years.
Moriarty's characters are just quirky enough to really care about without being absurd. I thought the flashbacks to the past did a wonderful job of showing how the sisters evolved into their separate personalities. Three Wishes is a fun, fascinating look into three lives that are inextricably entwined, and an insightful look at family relationships in general.
The novel begins in the year 2000 on Memorial Day weekend in New York City. Janey is on her way out to the Hamptons when she receives a phone call from Comstock Dibble, the head of Parador Pictures. Not having heard from him for almost a year, "the sound of his voice brought back a host of unpleasant associations. Comstock Dibble had been her lover the summer before, and Janey had actually fancied herself in love with him - until he suddenly became engaged to socialite Mauve Binchely, a tall, reedy socialite. His rejection of her in favor of another woman (one who wasn't, Janey thought, even remotely pretty) had been made all the more bitter by the fact that this was a scenario that had repeated itself many times in the past. While men were perfectly happy to date her, when it came to the ultimate union of marriage they always seemed to spurn her." The purpose of Comstock's phone call was to order Janey not to make any trouble for him as they were both attending top socialite Mimi Kilroy's party that evening. As Janey's sarcastic side came out, Comstock threatened her and after a string of expletives hung up the phone.
Janey is extremely thrilled to have been invited to Mimi's party. In the past Mimi had barely even acknowledged Janey's presence and even seemingly made it a point to ignore her. But now that Janey had finally made a name for herself in New York, Mimi was suddenly acting like her best friend.
At Mimi's party Janey is introduced to Selden Rose, the head of the cable channel MovieTime, -- and who will eventually become her husband. "He might not have been the man that Janey had always imagined she would marry, but the man you did marry never was. Janey had already dated every man in New York and nothing had worked out. And Selden was crazy about her - everyone who saw them together remarked upon it - and it was always better to have a husband who was more in love with you than you were with him."
