The opening scene of Anne Tyler’s new novel, THREE DAYS IN JUNE, introduces us to Gail Baines, an assistant to the Headmistress at a private girls’ school in Baltimore. Those of us who have read Tyler’s work will feel like we already know Gail and some of the observations going through her mind. She holds herself back, and her interior commentary on the specifics of memory and what is happening contrasts with her calm, measured actions.

The Headmistress taps the face of her wristwatch, and Gail is drawn back to the moment, recalling her father’s tapping on his watch. Tyler connects the past and present with a few sentences, and we remember how gracefully she does that.

"Gail's story is beautifully told, showing quiet passion and acknowledging what her world has become and how she arrived there."

We do not know the next piece, though. The Headmistress quickly says that she is retiring. But Gail will not assume her position as anticipated; instead, a dynamic young woman from Tennessee will take over. Gail walks out of the office, leaves the school and drives home.

Home is a small, unassuming white house that Gail has lived in since her divorce years earlier. The three days in June, the three days that will become very important, now begin.

Gail’s only child, Debbie, is getting married this weekend, but Gail’s involvement is minimal. Debbie picked out her wedding gown alone. Her mother-of-the-bride blue dress was one she had liked and worn a few times before, and all she had to do was pick it up at the cleaner’s. Even the spa day for the bridal party, a Day of Beauty, was planned by the groom’s mother, who did not bother to invite Gail. That was okay by Gail; she had never heard of days of beauty anyway.

Gail’s ex-husband, Max, arrives unexpectedly from the Eastern Shore and brings a homeless cat that he wonders if she might adopt. A cat? She cannot nurture a houseplant, so no to the cat. There’s a rehearsal dinner that night, a quick trip to a bargain store to buy a reasonable wedding suit for Max on Saturday, and the wedding happens.

Later in the evening in the parking garage, they realize that neither of them had said a proper goodbye to Debbie. Twisting around in the driver’s seat, Max retrieves the ticket, pays the fee and reminds her of their wedding day. Gail’s father had taken Max aside and said that anytime she did something that was completely baffling, he should come to him. He would explain it. Gail laughs. “He’d have said I had always been difficult.”

The third day begins, and Max packs to go home. Gail invites him to lunch first, and it seems she has named the cat Celine --- although she does not like to call her name aloud just yet. The restaurant they choose is a nod back to their university days, and even quick taps on wristwatches are nostalgic.

In THREE DAYS IN JUNE, Anne Tyler once again has opened the life of an outwardly held-back woman --- with no people skills, the Headmistress had told her --- to reveal the layers that she has put away for years. Gail's story is beautifully told, showing quiet passion and acknowledging what her world has become and how she arrived there.