It’s July, so we have a great beach read! It’s a new novel by debut author Lindsay Goldstein. In GAP YEAR, within one evening Jane’s marriage has suddenly ended and her daughter has gone off to Spain for a Gap Year. With the dissolution of her marriage, Jane makes a spontaneous decision to take a gap year of her own and accomplish her lifelong dream of climbing Cotopaxi, the Ecuadoran volcano, and also of visiting the Galapagos Islands. Sounds like a great plan, right? Except things, of course, don’t go according to plan. This is a fun, funny book that looks at whether it’s possible to recapture the dreams of youth when you’re no longer young. Nancy asks Linny whether she has heard of Cotopaxi before reading this book? Linny says, “no.” Nancy agrees that she hasn’t either. She looked up the wonderful descriptions of the beauty of Cotopaxi. Two things sprung to her mind: 1) yes, it is beautiful, and it also seems sort of climbable, so Nancy understands why someone might decide it would be a fun climb. 2) this is an actual active volcano that most recently erupted in October 2022 - January 2023, spewing ash plumes, ashfall, and the such. That would be the reason Nancy says she wouldn't want to climb it. Linny reminds Nancy that she has actually climbed an active volcano when they were visiting Hawai’i! Linny reminded her about all the hot lava they saw! Linda thinks Jane’s dream of climbing the volcano was impulsive and an escape. Nancy agrees and says Jane also thought that if she climbed the volcano then she would know what to do with the rest of her life. Plus, Jane felt she had been coasting through life, not following her passions, and this was an opportunity to pursue a long-dormant passion. Linny agrees that Jane lost herself along the way of parenthood and marriage. Her daughter’s departure for her gap year gives Jane the chance to re-evaluate her decisions. Oh, and also her husband’s announcement he wants a divorce right after they drop their daughter off at the airport. Linny thinks if Jane’s husband, Clark, had not left her, and if she wasn’t facing a “take the promotion or leave the company” decision, she would have probably spent a lot more time planning her next step. Nancy agrees that Jane has been more of a planner previously in her life. Nancy asked Linny about her perspective of Jane’s relationship with daughter Liza. Linny didn’t agree with Nancy that it was unusually close. She did note that Liza’s gap year in Europe and Jane’s travel to Ecuador, meant their communication was suddenly less frequent. Nancy clarifies and says, she felt that Jane was over-managing her daughter’s life and centering her life focus on her daughter. Linny agrees the overmanaging was dysfunctional. However, Linny says that, as a parent, her son did take over her life as he was growing up. Nancy says women pouring everything into their children is celebrated, but when there is nothing else in a parent’s life, that is unhealthy. Linda agrees and says Jane’s marriage certainly suffered. Linny notes that Nancy has done some reinventing of herself as an empty nester. Nancy agreed and says that for a couple years when people would inquire about how she was liking being an empty nester, she would reply, “I don’t prefer it.” Linny says Nancy had never shared that with her. Then, she thought about the opportunities that open up with more time, which she did pursue, including writing and the podcast. She had met people of all ages she would have never met otherwise. Linny says that she was very purposeful about planning because in eighth grade when her son announced he was going to be an astrophysicist, she knew he was going away to college and not coming back to her area. She says the plan has changed, but she is still doing some of them, such as volunteering for the American Red Cross. Linny thinks Clark was a weasel in waiting for his daughter to fly to her gap year and then telling Jane. Nancy disagrees and says she feels Clark just blurted it out, but hadn’t really planned tell Jane quite in that way. Nancy asked one of her friends who just returned from the Galapagos Island what her favorite thing was. Amazingly, it was swimming with the sea lions and penguins, just like Jane did! Linny says she has no interest in going to the Galapagos. Linny asks Nancy what exotic place she would like to visit. Nancy tells Linny about her dreams to visit Hadrian’s Wall. Nancy notes the hubris of an empire that builds walls to keep out savages. Who lived outside the walls? People. With their own customs and faith who loved their children, just like we do. There is also a train ride Nancy would like to take. Nancy asks Linny about Jane’s relationships with three men in the book: her boss, Alan; Mark, the handsome tour guide; and Clark, her soon-to-be ex-husband. Linny thinks they tell us about Jane’s character. Linny thinks Jane is a bit self-absorbed. For example, she didn’t know that Alan had been divorced for years. Linny saw the red flags with Mark, which she believes the author wanted us to see. Nancy struggled to understand what either Alan or Mark saw in Jane. Linny says Mark saw Jane as an easy target for a good time. Linny and Nancy discussed Jane’s friendship with her new friend, Laura. Jane pursues Laura, initially, because she can help her climb the volcano. Nancy thought Laura was very kind and patient in helping Jane, who was utterly unprepared. Laura and Jane feel kinship as they are facing decisions about their futures. Both Liza and Laura are inspired by Jane. Nancy thinks this book would be a fun book for people who loved EAT, PRAY, LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert or A YEAR IN PROVENCE by Peter Mayle. You read about characters who are transported to a different world and meet people they’d never have met and have adventures they didn’t see coming. Linny says this is why it’s a great beach read. Next episode we welcome Lindsey Goldstein to the front porch to talk more about her book, GAP YEAR.