Set in the years directly after World War II, this engaging novel focuses on the Birketts, one of the founding families of the city of Lakeport, in upstate New York. The perspective primarily shifts back and forth between the two youngest of the four Birkett siblings - Kit (Kathleen) and Jimmie - although there are some chapters told from the point of view of Constance Birkett, the siblings' elderly maiden aunt. Recently returned from the war, where he served as a paratrooper, Jimmie had been working in New York City for the wealthy father of his fiancée, whom he had met in England. His return to Lakeport at the beginning of the book, and his announcement that he hopes to help at least six other people to find the comfort and support of God, in their darkest moments, causes confusion and consternation for his conventional elder siblings. Moving in with Aunt Connie in the working class area of town - the old Birkett home having been overtaken by shifting demographics - he takes a blue-collar job at a local cereal factory and makes his first fumbling attempts to do for others what was done for him during the war, when his unit was stranded behind enemy lines and all hope seemed lost. Kit, in the meantime, who recently jilted her own fiancé shortly before their wedding, clings stubbornly to her daily trips to a horse farm outside of the city, and to the sense of freedom that it gives her. Determinedly ignoring the incipient scandal of her spending so much time amongst single men at the stables, she forms an unconventional bond with the farm's owner, Gil Zukor. But can she hold on to her sense of independence, and will it bring her the satisfaction she had hoped...?

Much like Jane Abbott's Angels May Weep, which was written and set during the Great Depression, The Open Way addressed some serious themes - the human relationship to the Divine, and the role of faith in people's lives; class distinctions that are both significant and meaningless; the threat and fear of sexual assault; and the post-traumatic stress of young men newly released from military service - while also including some light romance and comedy. Although I didn't find the serious and lighthearted elements here as jarringly mismatched as I did in that earlier book, I was conscious during my reading of the book of a greater enjoyment of the former, and a disappointment that the story seemed to abandon some of its most interesting elements, when it turned away from Jimmie's attempts to aid a former convict at the cereal factory, to his troubled relationship with an old school friend struggling with alcoholism, and his on-again off-again relationship with his fiancée. I thought Abbott had the beginnings of a really interesting and engaging story here, in Jimmie's unlikely quest to share his vision of God and to help others, and in his relatives' various responses to his idea, from Constance's cautious sympathy and support to the elder siblings' feeling that it was nothing more than a phase. Unfortunately, although the book had definite appeal, I don't think Abbott was entirely successful in developing that story, dividing her focus too much. I think I would have enjoyed this more if the author had either made it Jimmie's story alone, or if she hadn't abandoned the subplot of parolee Bill Haslett in the latter half of the book. This is one I would recommend primarily to those interested in post-WWII American fiction, or who are fans of Abbott's work. ( )