Life is a journey one embarks on without any knowledge of where it is going to lead or what might be encountered on the path. With this journey comes a mindset, the traveler often has an idea where they want the path to lead but do they really have any control over it? Harriet Mahoney traveled in a path that looked to be a straight line, but to her excitement and amazement, ended up have many sharp turns and gradual curves. Isabel’s Bed, a novel by Elinor Lipman, tells of her on the path of life and the discoveries about herself and the world she makes on the way. Harriet Mahoney has spent her “thirties engaged to a spoiled child” (3) and attempting to become a writer. When her boyfriend and owner of a bagel chain, Kenny, breaks up with her, she is forced to move out of her apartment into a new home and a new life. After answering an ad in the New York Review of Books for room and board in exchange for writing, she whisks herself off to Cape to fulfill her dreams. Harriet is hired to write The Isabel Krug Story, based on her new housemate’s scandalous tabloid past centered around Isabel and a fatal affair. While researching the details, Isabel and Harriet become like sisters – fighting occasionally, but continually inspiring each other. When the book is finally ready to be written, Nan, the murderous wife of Isabel’s lover, is released from the insane asylum. Once she signs on to write her side of the story, much against Isabel’s will, the book takes on several new twists leaving Harriet to pursue a new life of love and happiness.All her life, Harriet has been described as dependable and as Isabel put it when she hired her, “normal” (3). Harriet had the normal dreams of becoming someone she wasn’t, the normal dreams of having someone who loved her unconditionally, and the normal dreams of having a life that was full of excitement and thrills. Harriet’s life ...
