Helen has moved back to Washington, D.C., to help her father after his heart attack. As she moves back into her childhood home, she is filled with memories of the one event that changed their family forever.
Her father was a high up government official when the Iran-Contra scandal occurred. He was fired from his job, and spent a few months without a job before finding employment in a different field.
She has always wondered what really happened and her father's level of guilt. As she tries to piece things together she is also confronted with her relationship with her sisters - at one point realizing that they are two adults that she will forever be bound to, although she has little in common with them.
Helen also remembers the relationship her sister Courtney had with the step-son of her father's former best friend. When she runs into this guy, Rob, she is attracted to him, and he eventually reveals a few things about her sister that shed some light on why Courtney is who she is.
This is a fantastic story with real characters who are flawed yet lovable. I loved the look back at an event in history that received a great deal of media attention. And I enjoyed how this story was driven more by the characters than by the plot.
I would love to read Waterloo, Olsson's first novel, written nearly a decade ago, and hope we hear more from her sooner rather than later.
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