PUBLISHER--HighBridge Company
LENGTH--11 hrs and 26 mins
Description-
It's 1956, and working-mother Ava Lark and her son, Lewis,
have rented a house in a less-than-welcoming Boston suburb. There, Lewis finds
he is only able to befriend the other fatherless kids on the block, Jimmy and
Rose. But when Jimmy goes missing, neighborhood paranoia ramps to new heights,
further ostracizing Ava and Lewis.
Lewis never recovers from the loss of his childhood friend.
In his twenties, he is a failure in love, living without direction, estranged
from his mother. When Jimmy's disappearance is unexpectedly solved, however,
Lewis, Rose, and Ava are thrown together once more to try to untangle the
remaining pieces of the puzzle and reclaim something of what they have lost.
My Review:
This is such a unique tale, set in the 50’s divorced mother
Ava and her son Lewis find it hard to fit into their Boston suburb because Ava
is *Gasp* divorced so she must be a wanton woman after every man in town but
that isn’t the case Ava is just trying her best for her and her son. Lewis has
his own set of problems being the child of a divorcee’ but there are a brother
and sister, Jimmy & Rose, that don’t have a father either and they bond and
become best friends until the horrible day when Jimmy goes missing and
everything changes.
This book is told from the perspective of an adult Lewis who
has had his share of relationship problems with not only women he has dated but
with his mom too. When the truth comes out about Jimmy’s disappearance things
don’t become any easier for Lewis, Rose & Ava.
This was a complex story, filled with emotion, it is a
family drama and a story of how friendships can change when something bad
happens especially when you are young. I truly loved this book it is so well
written that even though it isn’t an edge of your seat thriller type book it
still grabbed me and I didn’t want to stop reading/listening. There were times
when I thought if you people would just talk to each other maybe some of these
long held misunderstandings could have been avoided but that is what made this
book all the more real, these are real people dealing with huge events in the
best way they know how and that isn’t always easy.
Who else but Xe Sands could pull off the raw emotion of this
book, her narration was perfect she brought the emotions of every character to
the forefront and I can’t imagine anyone else doing a better job at it. She was
the perfect choice for this book!
This was the first book I have read by Leavitt but it will
certainly not be the last!
4 ½ Stars
