#SoloStories: “Flying Solo” by Linda Holmes

SoloStories is our feature in which we explore books, films and TV shows that show single women navigating their lives – but romance is not the main component (although this is a slight exception).

“Flying Solo” by Linda Holmes is the story of two single women who love their independence – while trying to maintain their love for others.

Laurie Sassalyn, a freelance writer, is visiting her hometown of Maine to clean up the house of her Aunt Dot, who recently passed away. Dot never married, but she traveled, made plenty of friends and kept her house filled with prized possessions.

Laurie becomes beguiled with a mysterious object of Dot’s, a wooden duck tucked away in a chest. Laurie is trying to figure out the duck’s origins when she reunites with her old boyfriend, Nick.

Laurie is protective of Dot because Dot was protective of Laurie, giving her a safe space during her childhood while she was growing up in a house full of boys. “Inside was peace. No negotiating like there always was in a house of seven people; no bargaining.”

It’s why Laurie, who recently broke off an engagement, is reluctant to get into another relationship – and why she chose a quiet house in her current residence of Seattle.

“This place would not be noisy, except when she wanted it to be. And just in case, she would have every machine and oscillating fan and earplug it took to make it quiet when she was sleeping. Just quiet, that was all.”

Laurie can be an occasionally frustrating character, making odd choices. But like Dot, she knows she wants her freedom. Marriage isn’t the be-all and end-all for everyone, but that doesn’t mean they are lonely.

“I wanted to be a champion for her, I guess,” Laurie said to a friend about her aunt. “I wanted to stick up for her life, for the way she was and the way she lived. I wanted to give her the same respect she would have gotten if she’d made different choices.”