Synopsis:
Lizzie thinks the difficult years are behind her.
She has a happy marriage, a career she loves, and a daughter beginning to find her place in the world. But when her husband Ed receives a devastating diagnosis, long-buried secrets surface – shattering everything Lizzie believes about their life together.
Now Ed is desperate to set things right before his memories slip away.
Meanwhile, their adopted daughter Beck is searching for answers of her own that could change the family forever.
After rediscovering her love of singing, Lizzie brings together a community where friendship, kindness and music forge unexpected connections — and perhaps a way back to one another.
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Books about memory loss and the families who navigate it will always have a special place in my heart. I worked for several years at an assisted living facility that cared specifically for residents experiencing memory loss, and my own grandfather went through this in the last years of his life. I watched my grandmother both lose him and care for him at the same time. So books like this have always meant a lot to me, and this one was no different.
The Story
Lizzie thinks the difficult years are behind her. She has a happy marriage, a career she loves, and a daughter beginning to find her place in the world. But when her husband Ed receives a devastating diagnosis, long-buried secrets surface, shattering everything Lizzie believes about their life together. Now Ed is desperate to set things right before his memories slip away. Meanwhile, their adopted daughter Beck is searching for answers of her own that could change the family forever. After rediscovering her love of singing, Lizzie brings together a community where friendship, kindness, and music forge unexpected connections, and perhaps a way back to one another.
Reading Experience
I expected this book to feel heartbreaking and sad, but it was actually kind of the opposite. It was full of hope, and instead of the heartache I thought was inevitable on the page, it gave me a sense of warmth and meaning. There’s an importance to this story, to the characters it represents, people who have actually lived through something like this or will one day, and to telling the stories that so often get lost.
Writing Style
According to the synopsis, this is a story about a devastating diagnosis and secrets shattering the reality these characters thought they knew. But what was actually written on the page was each character being faced with something unexpected, lies or secrets they had hoped to never face, and now they had to face them and come to terms with the truth, and make some ultimate decisions. So it read less like a devastating heartbreak story and more like a warrior story, for each character having to face what they didn’t want to face.
Characters
The characters all held such flawed, complicated stories. They had all made significant mistakes or decisions in their lives that they regretted or wanted to keep secret. And while Ed is trying to salvage things before he loses more of himself, it’s almost like it gives all the characters an opportunity to reinvent themselves and find themselves.
Lizzie, his wife, could have let herself be devastated and lost in this tragedy as her husband’s diagnosis changes their life, but instead she finds activities that bolster her sense of self-worth and identity. Beck is searching for her own answers, living her own very challenging reality. There’s such a beautiful parallel here: a diagnosis that causes someone to lose their memories, while at the same time everyone around them is finding themselves. You have the parallel of losing yourself and your identity versus choosing to go on a journey that helps you find out exactly who you are, or choosing to believe in who you are without needing all the answers, or choosing to accept things that surface that could completely change what you know or how you see things.
Heartbeat
Underneath it all, the heartbeat of this book is music. The music we grew up listening to, that defines the pivotal moments in our lives. The music that says the words we really feel deep down. The music that brings back the memory of exactly how we felt in a moment. Music that has the words to speak for us when we don’t have the right words ourselves. Music that keeps emotions alive, that keeps memories alive, that keeps brain function alive. I’ve always felt that music is like a living part of our lifeblood, and I think this story depicts that beautifully.
Final Thoughts
I would recommend this to anybody who wants a domestic family drama wrapped in a story of diagnosis and loss, but covered in the warmth of what’s really important.
Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this virtual book tour Rachel’s Random Resources .
Andrea Darby writes commercial women’s fiction with book club appeal, exploring emotionally engaging stories about family, relationships, resilience – and hope. Her stories are for readers who enjoy thought-provoking, uplifting novels with plenty to discuss. Andrea is a prize-winning journalist with more than 20 years’ experience as a writer and sub-editor on newspapers and magazines. Her articles have been published in regional and national titles, including Prima, Best, Take a Break, Prima Baby, Woman and Dogs Today. She plays several brass instruments, sings in a choir and teaches piano from her home in Gloucestershire – where she’s lucky to have very understanding neighbours. Ideas for writing often come while listening to music or walking Betty the cockapoo through muddy fields.
Social Media Links :
Twitter – @ADarbyAuthor
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Website andreadarby.com
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