Beth and her three siblings are gathered for a meal in the house they
grew up in after putting their father, who suffers from dementia and
heart disease, into a care home. The house is special to the four.
It’s a tie to the father they loved, and they can’t decide
whether to sell the house or keep it and rent it.
Beth has a
five-month-old baby, Noah. She’s still on maternity leave and can’t
quite decide to go back to her job as a psychologist. She volunteers
to clean out the house guiltily knowing that she can ask her
mother-in-law, who is excellent with children, to babysit for Noah.
Beth, although she wanted a child bad enough to go through fertility
treatments, now feels overwhelmed caring for him.
When cleaning out
the house, Beth finds a lock on the attic door. When she gets in she
finds a mess of paintings from her father, and piles of papers. Going
through the papers, she finds letters from her mother, Grace. Beth
and her siblings believed Grace died in an auto accident, but the
truth is different. The letters also reveal an aunt, Maryanne, Beth
didn’t know she had. Contacting Maryanne, she learns more about the
history of the sisters and what happened to her mother.
The book has a dual
timeline. Maryanne and Grace’s story takes place in the 1950s;
Beth’s, in the 1990s. Although I don’t often like stories told in
two time periods, this one worked well. As Beth gets to know her
mother, she realizes how much they have in common. Her mother
suffered from postpartum depression, and Beth realizes that she may
being suffering from the same disorder.
Although the book is
billed as a mystery, it is more of a character study. The theme is the
differences and opportunities open to women in the 1990s that were
not in the 50s. This is a book women today should read to understand
some of the problems faced in their mothers’era.
I received this book
from Harlequin for this review.
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