The Real Mother
The Real Mother by Judith Michael
Hardcover, 432 pages
Published December 1st 2005 by William Morrow
Judith Michael is beloved around the world for powerful stories of love and family. Now this renowned author returns with a richly emotional tale of the many kinds of love and the collision of good and evil that threatens to tear a family apart.
Sara Elliott has been forced to give up the life she's dreamed of to return home to Chicago and take charge of her sisters and brother. She finds a job and settles into the house she grew up in, building a life for ten-year-old Doug and teenagers Carrie and Abby.
But Sara has another brother, Mack, now twenty, who left home three years earlier. Suddenly he reappears, cheerful and unconcerned, as if he had never broken his promise to stay and help Sara with the children and the house. With bewildering volatility, Mack swings from kindness to cruelty, affection to hostility, keeping the family always on edge, his past and present a mystery. But with expensive gifts, storytelling, and the excitement of his presence, he is winning over the children, and sometimes the four of them stand together against Sara.
Mack challenges all Sara has achieved in trying to be a mother and keep her family together. And he does it at a time when she is confronted by crises at work that spill over into her home. Suddenly, events seem to be speeding past and Sara feels she cannot slow them down to regain control.
And then, when she thinks her life has room only for work and family, she meets Reuben Lister, a client from New York. As Sara helps him find and furnish a house and explore the city, they discover a closeness neither has known before and share new ways of dealing with conflicts each has always faced alone. Together, Sara and Reuben find answers to the questions: What is a mother? What is a parent? What is a family?
This is Judith Michael's most poignant exploration of the pressures and joys facing modern adults and children, in a story that will resonate with everyone for its universal themes and discoveries.
About the author
Judith Michael is the pen name of husband/wife team Judith Barnard and Michael Fain.
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The book sounds like a compelling read.
ReplyDeleteJudith is one of my favorite authors and this is another that will go on my TBR list. Thanks for the chance to win a great book by a wonderful author!
ReplyDeleteInteresting characters
ReplyDeleteThanks for this giveaway. Sounds great. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
ReplyDeleteI love reading books about good and evil, and if they have some mystery all the better. This book sounds fabulous. Thanks for having the giveaway.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds so interesting. I just adore husband and wife writing teams!
ReplyDeleteI like the subject matter of this book. good review. I would love to be win This book and read for myself.. Please put me in. so hopefully I can have this book Maxie Anderson
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