Book Review: "The Most" by Jessica Anthony

It’s a Sunday in November of 1957. Winter should be on its way but for some reason it is unseasonably hot. Kathleen decides she doesn’t feel like going to church with her husband Virgil and two sons, and stays in bed while he gets the boys fed and dressed.

While the rest of her family is at church, Kathleen cleans up after her husband and puts the house back in order. Then she finds her old red bathing suit in a closet and she decides to get into the pool. That is where Virgil finds her when they get home from church.

Virgil is planning to go golfing with his boss and colleagues from the insurance company where he works. For some reason, however, Kathleen doesn’t plan to get out of the pool. The boys watch her from their apartment balcony, so Virgil goes to the golf course.

Much to his surprise, Kathleen is still in the pool in the early evening. Over the course of the day, both of them make discoveries about their marriage that had been obvious all along, stemming from a few phone calls.

The entire book takes place in an eight-hour period, although there are lots of flashbacks to Kathleen and Virgil’s earlier lives, as well as chronicling their relationship from its start to the day the book takes place. It’s a fascinating, well-written, and character-driven book. However, I didn’t find either Kathleen or Virgil to be particularly likable.