Story Description:
Random House
Publishing Group|May 7, 2013|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-345-50794-5
Perfect for fans
of Jennifer Weiner and Emily Giffin, this tender and heartwarming novel
explores the trials of losing what matters most –and how there’s always more
than we can imagine left to find.
“Dear Libby, It
occurs to me that you and your two children have been living with your mother
for – Dear Lord! – two whole years, and I’m writing to see if you’d like to be
rescued.”
The letter comes
out of the blue, and just in time for Libby Moran, who – after the sudden death
of her husband, Danny – went to stay with her hypercritical mother. Now her crazy Aunt Jean has offered Libby an
escape: a job and a place to live on her farm in the Texas Hill Country. Before she can talk herself out of it, Libby
is packing the minivan, grabbing the kids, and hitting the road.
Life on Aunt Jean’s
goat farm is both more wonderful and more mysterious than Libby could have
imagined. Beyond the animals and the
strenuous work, there is quiet-deep, country quiet. But there is also a shaggy, gruff (though
purportedly handsome, under all that hair) farm manager with a tragic home
life, a formerly famous feed-store clerk who claims she can contact Danny “on
the other side,” and the eccentric aunt Libby never really knew but who turns
out to be exactly what she’s been looking for.
And despite everything she’s lost, Libby soon realizes how much more she’s
found. She hasn’t just traded one kind
of crazy for another. She may actually
have found the place to bring her little family – and herself – back to
life.
My Review:
Libby Moran has
lost her husband in a car accident and shorty after lost her home as her
husband, Danny, had already cashed in their insurance policies and she couldn’t
afford to pay for the house anymore.
Libby, along with her two young children, Tank and Abby, moved in with
her mother, Marsha.
Marsha and Libby
had a love-hate relationship but Libby did her very best to bite her tongue and
not get into too many arguments or confrontations with her. Ignoring, Marsha and her comments was not an
easy thing to do but somehow, somewhere, Libby found the resolve she needed to
keep the peace most of the time. Libby
was often tired. She missed Danny
terribly, worked hard all day as a bank teller, came home to cook dinner for
the kids, do dishes, do bath and bedtime before falling into bed herself.
Out of the blue,
Libby receives a letter from her Aunt Jean who was her mother’s sister. Marsha had always led Libby to believe that
Aunt Jean was crazy. In her letter, Aunt Jean was offering to “rescue”, Libby
from her mother with an invitation for her and the kids to move to her goat
farm in Atwater, Texas and live there.
Libby was awestruck but before she could really sit down and seriously
consider this offer to uproot her little family, she was packing her van and
then hit the road saying goodbye to Marsha.
When they arrive
at Aunt Jean’s farm they are pleasantly surprised. The place is just crawling with animals:
goats, dogs, cats, kittens, pigs, roosters, and even a peacock which thrills
the kids to death. And, Libby soon
learns Aunt Jean isn’t the slightest bit crazy, a bit eccentric maybe but
definitely not crazy. It just so happens
that Marsha and Jean hate each other for very good reason on Jean’s part.
Underneath the
cool farmhouse, outbuildings, and animals, is a dashingly handsome man, O’Connor,
who has more hair on his head and face than Grizzly Adams. O’Connor is the farm manager who teaches,
Libby the ropes of what her daily chores will be. Hmmm….I wonder what will end up cooking with
these two?
Then you’ll also
meet, Sunshine, a formerly famous feedstore clerk who convinces, Libby that she
can contact, Danny through séances.
Little Abby,
unbeknownst to, Libby has been getting kick-ass fighting lessons from O’Connor,
along with building a vocabulary of four-letter words to fight off a kid in her
second grade class who constantly picks on her and teases her about her limping
gait.
Libby soon begins
to realize she hasn’t lost as much in her life as she’d originally thought but
instead gained a real family and a place to call home.
The Lost Husband was just too good and
too well-written to put down so I read it in one sitting. You’re going to get a real kick out of Aunt
Jean and all the goings on at the farm.
This was a great story!
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