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Sunday, February 1, 2015

Montpelier Tomorrow by Marylee MacDonald




This is an ideal read for most mothers. We roll up our sleeves, take all the crap and just head down shoulders squared box on. Colleen is faced with a huge situation. Her daughter Sandy pregnant with her second baby is facing a crisis of epic proportions. Her husband fit and able upto now that is has been diagnosed with ALS disease and given just months to live.


The story of Colleen and Sandy along with everyone else involved right down to baby Ben and how families cope or rather try to cope with an illness which has no hope of cure kept me riveted to this book. Each person copes in their own way and sometimes very careless of the other persons feelings or capabilities for that matter. For Sandy she herself and her husband and her two babies are the nuclear family and though dependent on her mother for so much assistance, resents her mothers presence in her own home. Sandy should have had a stint in a joint family in Asia!  Sandy sees her position being usurped by the capabilities of a stay at home caregiver in the form of her mother and resents this.


Colleen gives up her quiet, easy paced life from 1000 kms away and moves in to help. The help is at times appreciated and most of the time resented (I found that difficult to digest) but it speaks to the various characters in this story.


The story is tragic and the tragedy does not stop with the husband either. It goes much more than that and you wonder why some families face so much pain and sorrow all at the same time.


Beautifully written, characters full of flaws but at the same time so very human, this was a book one had to finish in one go.

7 comments:

  1. This one sounds so beautiful and well-written! It is hard enough to be diagnosed with ALS, but looks like the family has so many other problems.

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  2. Yep, even though we don't always get the credit women are the backbone of the families. This sounds really good.

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  3. Sounds like a book that would appeal to many women and moms.

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  4. This sounds like a heartwrenching story, one definitely worth reading.

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  5. Sounds like a good read Mystica.

    Have a great week,

    Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

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  6. Thank you so much for finding my book and for the review, Mystica. You are absolutely correct in saying that Colleen is the backbone of her family. A woman can grow old, but she can still be called back into service. All she has to do is hear the word "Mom" and all the protective impulses kick in.--Marylee

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