Suzanne Nelson was raised just outside of San Francisco. A Stanford grad and varsity runner, she heads to New York City for law school. She is gay, but has come out to no one. In New York she meets Kerry Neally, a New Yorker and fellow student. Who is straight. First in a study group and then as a pair, they find themselves become attached to one another. And have to work out that Kerry thinks she's straight. Eileen is Kerry's mother. She is a widow, and meeting Suzanne helps her leave the shell into which she placed herself after her husband died. And she comes to the attention of two men. One a widower. The other divorced. And love intevenes for her choice. With Suzanne settled into her New York life, she turns her back on her parents, who turned their backs on Suzanne's aunt Mary, a gay woman disowned by her parents and brother decades before. She, too, lives in New York and she and Eileen attempt to get Suzanne's parents to understand their daughter. Kate Nelson comes to New York to reason with her daughter. As eventually does William, her father. The story is about how the members of what becomes a large New York family deal with themselves, each other, and love.

The Neallys

Mrs. Neally laughed. “Do you know that old New Yorker cover, the one with the map looking west and everything west of the Hudson sort of disappears?” After we nodded, she continued. “That’s pretty much my world and I hate to admit my view of the rest of the world. I always wanted to go to California, and San Francisco in particular, but it never happened.”


Annie piped in, “Suzanne and I loved growing up there but, let’s face it, it was kind of boring compared to what we imagined the real world looked like.” Kerry interrupted by saying “You do realize that a lot of shows set in New York were filmed in Toronto don’t you?” to which Annie mockingly responded, “What? And are you telling me that Harry never met Sally?” which she said while glancing at me.


Chapter 6