Letters from a dying mother to her four daughters, to be read posthumously, should bring out the hankies, especially when the youngest daughter is only 15. And Elizabeth Noble certainly tries hard in her new novel, "Things I Want My Daughters to Know," but not enough to get the tears going.

Which is surprising for the author of the best-selling "The Reading Group," who knows what her readers like. Now, despite an original premise, the novel becomes a more conventional tale of four young women finding themselves over the year after their mother's death.

All four loved their mother, Barbara, who was, we are assured, wise, loving and high-spirited. They also love her second husband, architect Mark, who, 10 years younger, married divorced Barbara when she was 45 and pregnant with their daughter Hannah.

The grieving daughters -- Jennifer, Lisa, Amanda, and Hannah -- take their time to read their letters, which, with one exception, are loving evocations of their childhoods, sprinkled with a few insights in to their characters, and advice for their futures. All four are on the cusp of change.

Thirty-something Jennifer, reserved and always organized, is married to Stephen but is no longer sure she wants to stay married to him. And she certainly does not want to bear his child. Lisa, who most resembles Barbara, has been living with Andy, the divorced father of one child. Andy wants to marry Lisa, but she isn't sure she's ready. Amanda, a free spirit who enjoys traveling the world -- she did not even come home to say goodbye to her mother --receives the most disturbing letter. In it, Barbara reveals who Amanda's father really was, a revelation that shocks not only her but also her sisters.

And teenager Hannah, discovering boys (with mixed consequences), is torn between confiding in Mark and being secretive. She is also anxious that Mark begin dating again and even sets him up with a classmate's mother.

Though the novel begins with a death, and Barbara is much missed, the year ends on an up note. This is an all's-well-that-ends-well sort of book, as challenges are met, decisions are taken and rocky passages are successfully navigated. Which makes for a comforting and agreeable read, but one that is disappointingly inert, as the characters, including Barbara, seem more constructs than stand-out creations. It's a neat idea but a disappointing execution.
Judith Chettle is a Richmond-based book reviewer and writer.