Deborah is a hospice nurse, taking care of those with terminal illnesses nearing the end of their life. She's known for "sticking", not giving up on her patients. She needs this exact trait when her husband comes home from his third tour of duty in Iraq a broken man. He is very distant and obviously suffering. When Deborah gets her next assignment with a crotchety professor with no family, she doesn't realize that he'll help her as much as she helps him.
This book has three very interesting subject matters that could hold a story by themselves: end-of-life hospice care, being the wife of a returning vet with PTSD, and a WWII Japanese pilot who dropped a bomb on the Oregon coast, setting fire to the forests. At first, I was a little irritated that Kiernan was combining these three powerful stories together in to one, but it worked. The WWII story was from the patient which taught lessons to Deb about how to best care for her husband. In the beginning, I was much more drawn to Deb's story and when the narrative switched over to the Japanese pilot, it was a bit slower. Eventually I got used to the switch of pace in the book.
I was moved by this book. You can't help but wonder how you would react if you were in Deborah's situation and how you would handle your husband returning a broken man. The ending almost had me in tears, which is very unusual for me. I'm sure some people could find this book depressing. I, on the other hand, found it rather uplifting and hopeful.
This is my second novel by Kiernan (read my review for his other work, The Curiosity). I find his writing style easy to get in to and hard to put down. I'll be sure to pick up any other fiction work he puts out in the future.
One of my best reads of the year!
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for letting me be a part of this tour.
First Line: "All I knew at the beginning was that the first two nurses assigned to the Professor had not lasted twelve days, and now it was my turn."
Rating:
(5/5)
About the Author
|
Helen and Jenny had very different childhoods. Helen was raised by an abusive father and narcissistic mother. Jenny had nothing but love with her parents. When Jenny found out that she was adopted in her teenage years, she tried to question her mom about it by couldn't get anything out of her. She didn't want to hurt her adoptive mother's feelings but knew that she wanted to search for her family. It took 50-some odd years for Jenny to finally become successful in her search and meet her sister, Helen. The two start to piece together how they are connected.
Colleen's husband died of a tragic accident while she was still pregnant with her 3rd child. She does her best to raise her children while still working as a teacher. Years later, her daughter Sandy is a grown woman with her old child when Colleen learns that Sandy's husband has ALS. There's no cure for ALS. Colleen flies down to help her daughter manage the house, the children, and take care of her ailing husband.
Henrietta Howard is poor and wife to an abusive husband. The only things she cherishes are her son, Henry, and her English last name. She uses that name to find a position with Sophia, the grandmother of King George II, while the family is still in Hanover, waiting for their opportunity to claim the throne. Unfortunately Sophia passes away before this happens, but Henrietta secures a position with her granddaughter in law, Caroline, the future Queen of England. When the family moves back to England, Henrietta finds herself a part of royal court. However she is still abused by her husband who serves King George I. When George I banishes Caroline and her husband from court, Henrietta chooses serving them over staying with her family.
In Louis XV's court of the 18th century, drama can be found everywhere. Both ladies and men alike vie for the attentions of Louis XV. When it becomes clear that Louis's eye is starting to wander from his wife, his advisors look for a women with no political interests that could catch his eyes. They don't need to look far, as one of the Queen's new ladies in waiting is Louise de Mailly-Nesle, the eldest of five Nesle sisters. So starts Louis' affair with four of the five Nesle sisters.
Easter at Princeton means scramble time as seniors try to finish their thesis. Paul is still working on his, which involves trying to unlock the secrets of an old mysterious text the Hypnerotomachia. Tom, his friend, helps him out as his father was also an academic that focused on this book before he was killed in a car crash. Relationships and egos get in the way and slow down the process, which becomes even more dangerous when a research assistant is flung out of a window. Can they finally crack the code?