Sweet Sound of Bird Song is the 4th in a series of novels by Anne Wilensky. The first half of book, Summer 2010 is a continuation of her life in Tucson with her husband Bill and their pets.
Other than the first 3 chapters which describe their relocation from NYC to Tucson 20 years earlier, which is dramatic, Anne and Bill are now happily settled in.
That half of book is their summer and fall of 2010, although there are day to day ups and downs, the experience of reading it is like lying next to a cat who is purring
The second half of book Driving Lessons is a total departure. It begins only a few months later, but Anne is suddenly and surprisingly on her own.
The first order of business is learning how to drive. Her husband's best friend Jim is teaching her to drive the stick shift on the truck.
They start right away. Jim has been driving forever and is a great driver, he thinks it will be easy to teach Anne to drive.
Anne's dad was the greatest teacher in the world, he taught her to ice skate, play tennis, everything. Learning from him was a cinch.
Both Jim and Anne entered into the enterprise with high hopes.
But Jim has never taught anyone before. He didn't bother showing Anne where the brake was and the first thing which happened is she almost crashed into her Mustang in her driveway.
She didn't know how to steer and when she backed up she kept going all the way into neighbor's front yard.
A month later Anne emails her friend:
My Higher Self says, "Jim is the most experienced driver in the world, but he is new at teaching.
"But driving lessons with Jim are the best thing to be happening in your life now.
"As the only purpose in your life now is to be completely happy.
"So even tho Jim has to take a tranquilizer each time he returns home after a driving lesson with you, and you have to plotz in front of the TV for 5 hours to calm down after a driving lesson with Jim, the next day both of your happiness has increased exponentially."
It is an interesting and unusual novel about a girl where life hit her with its best shot and she came up smiling. She holds on to her peace and happiness.
And even experiences the thrill of a brand new life.
As Anne says "I don't understand my new life but it is surprisingly easy to live it."
Most of the action takes place during the actual driving lessons with her friend Jim.
Anne is determined to learn to drive, her friend Jim is determined to teach her. It is a bumpy ride.
But Anne is having so much fun teasing Jim. Her husband didn't like to be teased, he frowned when Anne tried to tease him.
But Anne discovers right away a best friend is not a husband. She has so much fun kicking up her heels and teasing Jim.
It is the most high spirited of Anne's books..
And then there are adventures with her house, as Anne emails her friend:
"How does a girl from New York City who can do nothing at all.
Who had a husband who could do everything.
And did everything for her.
Manage having a house in Tucson?"
The happy and surprising answer to this question is part of this story too.
Her husband's wonderful cartoons make the book even more fun..
About the Author: Anne was born on upper Manhattan. Her father was native New Yorker, high school teacher at Seward Park High School. Her mother was from Rochester NY. She came to NYC for nursing school, she was a nurse her whole life.
The family moved to new housing project in Flushing, Queens when Anne was 7 years old.
She moved to the East Village of Manhattan in 1966 and stayed there till she and her husband Bill moved to Tucson Arizona in 1991.
She began off as kindergarten teacher but she left two years later. She loved the children but did not know how to keep a class in order.
Anne was 25 and her husband was 23 when she left the school system. He was working as Wall Street messenger then. He suggested to Anne that she become a writer and offered to support her on his small salary.
She accepted his gracious generous offer and began to write. To her great surprise it worked and she fell in love with writing which she has continued to do her whole life.
Anne discovered spirituality in 1987 and under the guidance of her Higher Self they moved to Tucson in 1991.
Where Bill decided to follow his dream and become an artist. He went to art school.
Because it took her so long to make friends in Tucson and Bill was at art school, she discovered watching the news on TV.
With her Higher Self's input she was able to discern way below the surface and began to find it fascinating.
When she got on internet in 2000 she headed right to a news discussion forum to share her perceptions and hear theirs.
This was a thrilling experience for Anne, meeting mind-to-mind on forum. They all became extremely close and she met people from all over the country.
When Bill saw she was spending all her time on her news forum, he began to push her to go back to her writing.
In 2004 he succeeded and she returned to writing. And has been doing it ever since.
Altho Anne had a rich and wonderful time living in NYC, she met people from every walk in life, she loves being in the peace and beauty of nature.
She is happy on the desert. She loves the bright light, the blue skies, and birds sing to her all winter.
Her doggie and her kitties are the joy of her life.
Anne is a homebody. Altho she enjoys swimming outside at the public pools every day.
Her social life is chatting with the other swimmers and the lifeguards. Anne enjoys that conviviality.
She loves animals, birds, plants, and enjoys TV and reading.
