I spied this book on the library shelf and really was drawn to the cover art as well as the title. The title has a double meaning which I won't reveal here but it's very obvious once you've read the first few chapters. This is a new-to-me author and I really enjoyed the plot line as well as the main themes.
Alan and Abbie MacIntyre seem to have the perfect marriage, family (they have one 17 year old teen son named Zack in his senior year of high school), careers, and house. They live in a charming old home in the very beautiful Nova Scotia in an upscale part of Halifax. Abbie is a very successful surgeon and Alan is a very successful and handsome cardiologist. Their son gets great grades, doesn't do drugs or drink, and is on the hockey team.
One late November evening, after Thanksgiving, Abbie's entire life changes. A drunk driver hits her car as she goes home after spending the afternoon at her mother's home in Luenburg where she grew up. Alan had to go into his clinic that day and Zack has a hockey game at 8 pm. Alan is supposed to meet Abbie at the game. Instead, Abbie is hit so hard that she spins out of control, goes over a guardrail into a ravine and the Jaws of Life need to get her out of the totaled car. Meanwhile, Winston, her golden retriever, is missing as he was thrown out the car window. Abbie is rushed to the hospital.
She does survive but the accident forces into the open some horrible secrets about her husband. In fact, it is her husband who was the drunk driver and who had a very high alcohol content. He wasn't a drinker except on rare occasions and some of this is due to his own father's drinking binges. Alan is in the ER as well and is in a coma. He doesn't make it.
Shortly after the funeral, Abbie begins to learn all kinds of unimaginable things about her husband....secrets that come out and invades her dreams turning them into nightmares. She begins to question her grip on reality.
And soon her "perfect life" begins to crack and those cracks will begin to shatter everything she has ever known or thought about Alan.
As she begins to search for answers (Why was he drinking to the point of getting drunk? and why was he DRIVING drunk? why was he on the way to Luenburg vs going to the game? Why is Paula from the hardware store calling her the night of the accident? ) her drive to find those answers will test her in every way: as a mom, as a career woman and as a wife. These questions also begin to move her towards another direction in life.....she will move forward and leave behind anger, bitterness and heartache.
Abbie will learn what she is really made of and she will learn that in letting go she will heal and be able to trust again. And with that, she will have hope.
MY THOUGHTS
This book was very well developed and the characters were amazingly real.
I loved Zack and Abbie's relationship. And her relationship with her mother is just so bonded and sweet.
The story is full of emotion: grief, despair, hurt, betrayal, pain (both physical and emotional), anger, bitterness, love, hope.
The book's main theme seems to be the enduring strength of the human spirit. Of course as Christians, we know where this comes from...this inner strength (it is not Christian fiction nor does the author allude to Christ in any way).
I love how the relationship between Paula and Abbie play out in the end although I didn't expect it to be that way. (I don't want to say too much because I don't want to ruin it for you).
The book teeters on the edge of forgiveness but the author doesn't come right out and say that Abbie forgives her husband in his death. She leaves it up to the reader to decide. I liked that.
The book is very fast-paced and doesn't get bogged down in any spots but it IS a bit predictable with one of the relationships. I won't say which one.
A couple of quotes that stood out to me are:
"Pain is a part of life and we have to deal with it when it comes.....but sometimes, a flicker of light can emerge from the darkest, most unexpected tragedies." (pg 244 A Curve in the Road by Julianne Maclean c. 2018)
"Just like the waves that keep rolling onto the beach, happiness may recede sometimes, but then it comes back. It always comes back." (pg 253 A Curve in the Road by Julianne Maclean, c.2018)
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, I rate this a 9.
3 comments:
Wow, that sounds like a pretty good book. I will keep an eye out for it. Thanks for the review. :-)
Great review Faith and sounds like one worth reading. Thanks
Well this sounds interesting.
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