Whistler is a love story, but not the kind you might expect.
Platonic love is rarely explored in popular literature or film, but in Whistler it's portrayed with tenderness, intimacy and beauty.
The novel opens with a chance encounter that has life-changing ramifications.
High school teacher Daphne, 53, and her retired husband Jonathan, are spontaneously visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York when they notice an older man following them. They soon discover he's Daphne's former stepfather Eddie Triplett, who was married to her mother for a year when she was nine years old.
Upon meeting Eddie for the first time in over 40 years, Daphne breaks down: “I hadn't known there was something in me to break, but there it was, and break it did. I stepped into an open crack in time and fell backwards. It was not a few tears.”
Their connection is immediate, as if the intervening decades have melted away. Daphne and Eddie's bond proves enduring and unshakeable, forged in the aftermath of a fateful accident that changed the course of both their lives.
They quickly begin making up for lost time, attending a 50th anniversary together, gatecrashing a wedding and visiting each other's families. Daphne also finally questions the events that led to the breakdown of Eddie and her mother's marriage.
Whistler celebrates the love between two soulmates; two people who truly understand each other. It's simply and beautifully told. An elegant, understated and timeless read.