Laws of Love and Logic by Debra Curtis – About the Book
A woman finds herself torn between her first love and her devoted husband in this extraordinary debut novel that asks the question: Can one heart hold two great loves?
In the serene town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island, Lily Webb is deeply in love with a charismatic boy, a college-bound quarterback whose spectacular athletic talents are matched only by his fierce devotion. But their dreams of a life together are cut short when his passionate protectiveness leads to an irrevocable choice—one that tears them apart and leads Lily down a path of heartbreak from which she may never recover.
Lily already knows the sting of loss, beginning with the death of her mother, a tragedy that left deep scars on both her and her gifted younger sister, Jane. Jane seeks escape in the abstract world of mathematics and quantum mechanics—when she can keep the demons that fuel her addictions at bay. As the years pass, Lily buries her twin griefs deep in her heart, finding solace and a new beginning with Marshall Middleton, a renowned ornithologist whose love is as steadfast as the migration patterns he studies. Yet the shadows of her past linger.
When the boy who was once everything to Lily reappears in her life, she struggles with questions around that terrible night in high school. Can she reconcile the wild wonderment of her first love with the comfort and safety of her second? Laws of Love and Logic explores love’s enduring power and the human spirit’s capacity for forgiveness and redemption.
The Review
I recently joined not one, but two book clubs to not only get back into reading more regularly, but to give you more reviews. The first book that I read for Book Club #1 was Laws of Love and Logic by Debra Curtis. What always amused me about book clubs is how passionately people either love or hate the chosen book, and this was no different. On the positive side, some people loved it for its intricately woven story and the romance between Lily and the boy. Other readers were less enthused and thought it was predictable and it frustrated them that the boy was never named.
While I understood both perspectives, my own experience with the novel was different. I found the story thoughtful and carefully constructed. Through Lily’s perspective, Curtis explores grief, guilt, resilience and the lasting impact of loss, creating a novel that lingers long after the final page.
There is, of course, some romance in the book, since the boy is her first love. I actually liked that Curtis never gives “the boy” a name. Readers in my book club had different theories as to why, but I wondered if it was intentional, allowing each reader to project their own first love onto the character and making him feel even more universal. The real love story, however, is Lily’s relationship with her sister Jane. Their bond is enduring even though their lives and personalities are completely different. I can’t tell you more than that without spoiling the book.
Speaking of not spoiling the book, the final 50 pages are filled with unexpected twists. One brought tears to my eyes, the other is something that we didn’t speak enough about in our book club and it left me feeling conflicted. I may not have liked the particular twist, but the fact that I’m still thinking about it makes me respect Curtis’s writing even more.
Don’t let the title or cover fool you. Laws of Love and Logic isn’t a light romance or an easy beach read. It’s an emotionally rich novel about grief, forgiveness and the choices that shape our lives. Even after turning the last page, I found myself thinking about its characters and questioning some of the decisions they made. To me, that’s the mark of a memorable book: one that stays with you long after you’ve closed the cover.
