UNDER THE APPLE TREE

Brockway, a former beauty pageant contestant and singer, tells the story of her life.

The author, who currently co-owns a fishing and wildlife ecotourism lodge in British Columbia, Canada, offers a memoir that begins with a rural childhood, followed by a move to the city because of a family quarrel. The book’s narratives include Brockway’s romantic relationships, as well as her experiences as a beauty pageant contestant and her brief attempt at a singing career. There are especially engaging anecdotes that compare the Miss Helena and Miss Montana contests, and detail Brockway’s thwarted prospect of being an opener for Bob Hope. The memoir’s longest sequences, though, are about Brockway’s two marriages; she notes that the first, which began in 1978, was partially necessitated by an unplanned pregnancy and grew out of an already troubled relationship with her high school boyfriend; his devotion to football, she says, seemed to come ahead of her or their children. Inspiringly, Brockway also chronicles a happy ending with her second husband, whom she met after her separation from her first husband in the ’80s; he was a truck driver, and she was a trucking company receptionist. The book has personal photographs sprinkled throughout, ending with one of Brockway and her second husband after 35 years of marriage. Brockway’s book offers multiple possibilities for a unifying theme, but other than extoling a life well lived, no single, strong one emerges. Mostly, this book is about a life unfolding, with a later reference to early life lessons from her grandparents. The book’s epilogue seems to rush through more recent events in Brockway’s life, especially her health problems, leading to a rather abrupt conclusion. Notably, she doesn’t fully resolve certain threads in the book, namely regarding her relationship with her stepchildren and her reconciliation with her ex-spouse, with whom she later became good friends. Still, the book is full of diverting vignettes, especially regarding Brockway’s pageant and performing experience.

An often engaging but unevenly executed remembrance.