A Window Opens

A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015. 368 pages. ****

Thirty-eight-year-old Alice Pease has a life that many women envy. She is happily married to Nicholas, she loves her part-time job reviewing books, three great kids, a mother who cooks dinner for her once a week, a great relationship with her father and a babysitter who keeps her sane. Everything is perfect until her husband doesn't make partner and decides it's time to open his own law practice and Alice has to seek full-time employment. Balancing her new job at an exciting young start-up company and prioritizing family needs causes Alice to question what she really wants in life. Alice has to juggle many obligations and make decisions that are never easy for any working mother, daughter, wife and friend.

An entertaining debut novel, Egan touches on many emotions in a scenario that many readers will find touching. Alice finds a job that seems too good to be true and then struggles when she realizes that they language they speak is foreign to her world and that her values are not in alignment with the goals of her new job. Who hasn't been in a position to question what's really important in life and the need to earn an income sufficient to support a family? I enjoyed this book and thought that Egan developed her characters well; the conflicts that Alice faces every day are realistic. Many women will relate with wanting it all and then questing whether it's achievable and satisfying. It's easy to cheer Alice on because she is so likable and tries so hard to placate her new boss and fit into the corporate culture.

Fans of Chick Lit and Maybe In Another Life: a novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid will enjoy this novel.

I received a copy of this book from BookSparks to review.

Elisabeth Egan is the book editor at Glamour. Her essays and book reviews have appeared in many popular magazines. She lives with her family in New Jersey.