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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Lyons Public Library | F FAY | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Independence Public Library | FICTION - FAY | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
In the tradition of Marisa de los Santos and Anne Tyler comes a moving debut about a young mother's year of heartbreak, loss, and forgiveness...and help that arrives from unexpected sources
Four months after her husband's death, Janie LaMarche remains undone by grief and anger. Her mourning is disrupted, however, by the unexpected arrival of a builder with a contract to add a porch onto her house. Stunned, Janie realizes the porch was meant to be a surprise from her husband--now his last gift to her.
As she reluctantly allows construction to begin, Janie clings to the familiar outposts of her sorrow--mothering her two small children with fierce protectiveness, avoiding friends and family, and stewing in a rage she can't release. Yet Janie's self-imposed isolation is breached by a cast of unlikely interventionists: her chattering, ipecac-toting aunt; her bossy, over-manicured neighbor; her muffin-bearing cousin; and even Tug, the contractor with a private grief all his own.
As the porch takes shape, Janie discovers that the unknowable terrain of the future is best navigated with the help of others--even those we least expect to call on, much less learn to love.
Author Notes
Juliette Fay was born in Binghamton, N.Y. and moved to Massachusetts when she was three. She soon developed a love for books and writng in her journal. She earned a bachelor¿s degree in human development and theology from Boston College. Upon graduation she began a year-long stint in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Seattle, Washington where she served as an emergency shelter worker, and was very quickly exposed to the realities of homelessness. She returned to Boston and continued her career in human services by teaching at a school for autistic children. She then went on to achieve a master's degree in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She took time off from work and began to raise a family. It was then that she tried her hand at writing children's books. She soon found success there. Her title's include Shelter Me, Deep Down True, The Shortlisted Way Home and The Tumbling Turner Sisters.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Fay's winsome debut comes to life in this audio adaptation thanks to the absorbing narration of Marguerite Gavin. Her voice is rich, somewhat cynical, and an excellent match for this story about a 38-year-old woman coping with grief and rage after being suddenly widowed. Gavin doesn't overdo the unique voices she creates for each character, an appropriate strategy as the novel hinges on Janie's intimate perceptions of the people in her life: her sweet preschooler; her invasive but well-meaning aunt; the buttoned-up priest for whom she develops an attraction; and the contractor who comes to build a porch for Janie and tries to win her heart. Fay's prose is filled with unexpected shots of wry humor, which Gavin capably matches note for note. One particular highlight is Gavin's rendition of Janie's sarcastic yet vulnerable first-person journal entries that are woven throughout the narrative. An Avon paperback. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Review
Janie LaMarche is a 38-year-old widow, her husband, Robby, having been killed in a bicycle accident. Left to raise their two children, she is caustic in her grief-so much so that you wonder how anyone can stand her. She has Aunt Jude and confectioner cousin Cormac to console her, and she's getting a new porch, as per Robby's instructions before he died. Janie is no sympathy-inducing softie-not by a long shot-but readers will still root for her and even crave a slice of pology cake.-Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.