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What does it feel like to be lost in a marriage while falling in love with someone else? This is the story of Grace Brennan, a forty-two-year-old therapist with two small children, who is married to Michael (a surgeon). She is coping with the dissolution of her marriage and struggling with her identity as a wife and mother, all while realizing that she's attracted to a female co-worker. The story journeys through her work and personal life, with client sessions interspersed throughout. The book examines her struggle with seeing that her marriage is over and her difficulty in seeing that she is gay or bisexual. While Grace is dealing with her own issues, her children and husband are also having significant issues coping with the breakup of the family and their own traumas. How do her decisions to live authentically impact her and others?
The book is an excellent review of how an individual and a family cope with the ongoing struggle of ending a marriage, the trials and tribulations of everyday life, including professional and personal duties, and how to cope with daily issues with hope, pride, and joy. With vivid descriptions and heartfelt trauma and love, it examines the ongoing situations of breakups, lost love, new love, mental health struggles, and adult and adolescent issues. It also does an excellent job of looking at lesbian relationships, including sexual relationships, and the struggles within a society that is not always accepting of such relationships. When focusing on client sessions, the book offers insight into therapeutic practices. The juxtaposition between her clients' lives and concerns and Grace's own life is well-documented. However, this is not just a book for the LGBTQ+ community, for it is a thorough and fascinating examination of all types of relationships.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review