Nothing beats (like) a mother’s heart…

Synopsis

Two sisters, one heartbreaking promise…

To everyone who knows them, Louisa and Tom are the perfect couple. They have two beautiful kids, Stan and Flo, and are about to celebrate ten years of being happily married. Life is perfect. But when Lou is dealt devastating news, that perfect life is turned upside down and Lou and Tom must reevaluate the very foundations their marriage is built on.

Lou’s main concern is who will look after her children if she’s not there to care for them? Will anyone be able to love them like she does?

Holly can’t face the news that Lou is sick. As her older twin sister, she and Lou have always been together, and Holly has always tried to protect Lou. So she’ll do anything, promise anything, to make Lou feel safe and happy. Holly loves Stan and Flo fiercely, but with no children of her own can she ever be the mother her sister wants and needs for her children?

Determined to make the most of every last precious moment, Lou’s final wish for her family is to show them what it really means to live and love. And as Tom and Holly try to navigate their own pain, their only care is to shower Flo and Stan with love and help them make the most of every moment together.

My review

Lou has it all: wonderful husband in Tom, two amazing children named Stan and Flo. Even the bond she has with her twin sister Holly is one of the strongest. Despite the sibling banter, and Holly’s teasing about being older than Lou, the sisters have been through rough times together, only strengthening their bond more. Everything is going perfect, until… the news that Lou is terribly sick. So instead of making more plans for the future, Lou starts making plans for after. Because who will look after her children. Not that she cannot count on Tom on being the doting father he already is, but it isn’t easy to raise two small children on your own. And thus Lou makes Holly promise that Stan and Flo can always count on their Auntie. But despite Holly the children with whole her heart, can she be the person Lou expects her to be? With every minute that counts, both Lou and Tom, together with Holly, are trying to make memories with the children that will hopefully last a lifetime. But no matter what, the pain, but literally and figuratively, never truly disappears. So when the time arrives, can Lou leave everyone behind with a feeling that things will work out somehow? Or cannot everything be planned, like Lou hopes?

This for sure was not an easy book to read, for more than just one reason. Obviously there is the subject of the main character being sick, something that hit closer home to me. My own brother received the news of being ill several years back, and even if in the end, for him it all worked out, I could relate perhaps too easy to the anguish, the fears and the sense of the world falling into pieces…

And then there is the matter that Lou is a wonderful character, a great wife, and an amazing mother. She has so much to look forward to, and seeing all those prospects falling apart… And being the wonderful person that Lou is, she is afraid of leaving the world behind? Not that she is afraid for herself, but the worries she has is for all the people she is leaving behind… It would be easy and understandable to wallow in self-pity,  but that is not who Lou is. She wants to be sure that Tom, Stan, Flo and even Holly will be okay when the time comes.

Receiving such a diagnosis is a real shock, and absolutely not easy to digest. And we see clearly how people react differently. From denial, to not giving up to acceptance, each character, side or main are going through a whirlwind of emotions, and so was I while reading. Despite knowing how it would end for Lou, the optimist in me kept hoping for a miracle for her, that somehow things would change for her. But that doesn’t aways in life, and so it’s only fair in a way that it doesn’t in a book either…

And despite knowing what would be waiting for Lou, I admired her too. Because she is determined to use the time left to make that time count. She shifted the focus from her to her loved ones. It may seem controlling, how Lou somehow wants to make sure of things. But can you blame her? Wouldn’t you want your loved ones to be safe and looked after when you cannot take that task on you anymore?

It warmed my heart reading how Lou finds not only an outlet, but also understanding and compassion online. Of course there are always online trolls, but as the greater part of the responders are with a positive tone and even some good advice, it was not something that Lou needed, but also for us readers, and people in Lou’s same position, knowing that they are not alone… And then there is a wonderful, even more heartwarming/heartbreaking revelation towards the end of the book that made it even more perfect, especially for Lou…

Like I said, this isn’t an easy book to read, and for people having gone through the same or something alike, living with the fear, isn’t an easy task to read it until the very end. But despite  the heartbreak, this book is also filled with so much warmth, love and even strength. Because we see how love makes you want to look after people, even when you won’t be able to do it anymore. We see how a mother’s first worry is always about her children, her family. A mother’s heart, a wife’s heart, a sister’s heart will never stop looking after others, perhaps even if it costs them great effort.

Jo Bartlett wrote a book that shows us that life isn’t fair, it will never be fair. A story about people’s fight, struggles and resilience. Despite what happens, we see so much strength and determination in each character, showing us that that perhaps life can be cut short, but that the heart and the love it holds, will never die…

This for sure is a courageous story for the author to write, about a courageous woman, a courageous family. Even after reaching the end with several tears rolling over my face, I needed a time – out, to digest this wonderful story, to heal my own heart and most important, to appreciate the people around me even more…