The Grammarians (2019)By Cathleen Schine
The title characters are twin girls, Laurel and Daphne, born about mid-20th century to a young couple living just north of NY City. They develop a "twin language" that morphs into an obsession with words (their favorite book is the voluminous Webster's), and become inseparable. After college, they move to Manhattan, where Laurel teaches kindergarten at a private school and Daphne edits an alternative paper in Greenwich Village. They marry (in a double wedding) two very nice men: wealthy Larry and med student Michael. The two husbands bond as well. Laurel and Larry have daughter Charlotte and Laurel gives up teaching to be a full-time mom. After some put-downs by Daphne (who is now a popular columnist), Laurel decides to return to her teaching career. Daphne and Michael have baby Prudence, but is still very much a working girl and one who who continues to put down her sister's career, especially after Laurel gives up teaching to pursue what becomes a successful new career writing poetry - and she can throw insults right back at her sister. While their husbands now hang out without their hostile wives, even buying a sailboat together, the wives see each other only when absolutely necessary - as at their father's funeral, or mother's birthday party.
While the story grows around the twins' obsession with the meanings and uses of words, it's an all-too-human tale of friendship gone wrong, and all the efforts by family and colleagues to try to heal the rift. There are some cute and humorous sub-plots especially around Laurel's wonderful but inept headmaster and his daughter Miranda. It's a short read, though it covers a lifetime, and really warms up in the end.
Listed among the New York Times' "100 Notable Books of 2019"
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