As with all Tyler novels, The Clock Winder is full of quirky, odd and lovable characters. While there is not much action in her stories, the writing is so well done and the characters so fully developed, by the end of her novels, you always feel like a part of the family. Such is the case with The Clock Winder.
When the novel opens, Mrs. Emerson is a recent widow, who seems to aimlessly go about her days, always keeping up her image and trying to stay in tune with her grown children's lives. Never meaning harm, Mrs. Emerson seems to stress her children out, and doesn't seem to understand how she is affecting them. When she fires her lifelong handyman, she stumbles by chance upon young Elizabeth and before she knows it, Elizabeth is tangled up in the lives of the Emerson family.
The rest of the novel details how Elizabeth is affected by the family, and they by her. Tyler's writing is so poignant, while not much is really happening, so much is actually happening. This is a book that Tyler fans won't be disappointed in~