A Cooler Climate

At forty-five Iris Prue is in trouble. She has left her affluent husband for an artist who has now deserted her. Her money is running out. She cant seem to hold a job. In a panic she takes a job as a housekeeper for Broadway lawyer Leo Tanner and his wife Paula at their summer place in Maine. Iris friends are appalled as is her daughter Callie a successful lawyer. Eventually loneliness and humility break down social barriers; daughters struggle with their mothers floundering and dependency. When Iris begins to make her own life she sets in motion an evolution toward independence for herself and a devastating chain of events for Paula. A Cooler Climate is the story of Iris struggle to make a new life one in which she learns to face reality to take responsibility and to survive unafraid. Zena Collier gently and honestly weaves a fabric of relationships: mothers and daughters love and friendship fear and independence to create a timely portrait of women who survive.