The Last First Day / by Carrie Brown / 292 pgs

Booklist and Publishers Weekly disagree strongly about the strength and quality of this story.  My opinion falls in between.  As the novel opens, Ruth Van Dusen is preparing for the first day at Derry School for Boys.  Her husband, Peter, is head master and has run the school for many years.  What happens to make this his last first day takes many pages to tell.  However, when they flashback to the couple's childhood, marriage and early years the story moves at a much faster pace.  Overall I enjoyed the story until the end.  It seemed unfinished.   I prefer resolution, even a sad one.