Up From the Blue – Susan Henderson 08
This is the debut novel from Susan Henderson and she is off to a great start. I loved this book and didn’t want to put it down.
The story starts out with Tillie when goes into labor a month early. She is in a new city with her boxes barely unpacked and her husband overseas on business. With nowhere to turn Tillie reaches out to her estranged father whom she has not seen or spoken to in years. In reopening this relationship with him, the story brings Tillie back to her difficult childhood and painful memories.
The time period is the 1970′s. Tillie is a confused and lonely girl who grows up with a big family secret – a mother with depression. At the time though, no one calls it that, and Tillie doesn’t know what is going on with her mother. The family doesn’t know how to deal with a mother, who at times could be wonderful, eccentric, fun and loving, while other times she was completely withdrawn physically and emotionally from her family and life. This is a complex story on how each family member deals with this crisis. It is a well written story that is so vivid you will feel like you are there. I highly recommend this book.
