Hide this

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

The Life You Longed For: A Novel by Maribeth Fischer
Loading...

The Life You Longed For: A Novel

by Maribeth Fischer

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations
382158,291 (4.36)1
Loading...
won't like will probably not like will probably like will like will love

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

Showing 2 of 2
"The Life You Longed For" is a story where I could identify with the heroine on one level as a mother but yet on another I wanted to throttle her. Grace is a mother of three with her youngest, Jack who is 3, having a rare condition known as mitochondrial disease. He is terminal and everyone in the family is dealing with the inevitable in their own way. The story starts out on Christmas Eve with Grace spending part of the day with her lover...a childhood sweet heart who has been carrying a torch for her for 20 years since she dumped him. Not long after...Grace learns that there has been an accusation of Munchaussen's Syndrome by Proxy against her. So not only is she dealing with Jack's illness but also the threat of him being taken away from her. But she relaxes as the Children's Protective Agency do not have enough to prosecute until there is a second complaint. This book definitely pulls on your heart strings. September 11th does have a major role in the plot but I won't say what...it just makes all of the characters take stock. I will say that the family does have 2 traditions that I would like to adopt in our own...on New Year's Eve Day, as a family they put together a jigsaw puzzle. Then they have a jar with questions that they pull one a day and ask each other...for instance, if you were a color what would you be? ( )
  knithappened | Nov 10, 2009 |
An interesting book that engages the reader easily though the main character is not especially likeable. I found it hard to emphathize with what she was experiencing based on her decision to have an affair. The story was very good and I would recommend to others. ( )
  4kids4us | Jul 30, 2009 |
Showing 2 of 2
no reviews | add a review
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Series (with order)
Canonical Title
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Important events
Related movies
Awards and honors
Epigraph
Dedication
First words
Quotations
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

None

Book description

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0743293312, Paperback)

When every mother's worst nightmare becomes Grace's reality, she must examine her entire life -- from the wrong choices to the right mistakes.

Grace's son Jack is a miracle. At three years old, he's fighting a mysterious, deadly disease that his doctors predicted would kill him as a baby. Even though it was determined to be mitochondrial disease, the little-known illness remains a mystery to medicine. Grace has sat by his bedside every minute he has been in the hospital, questioned every diagnosis, every medicine -- even poring over medical journals and books at home late into the night. To the world, Grace's fierce dedication is the sole reason for her son's survival. But someone suspects that perhaps Jack's disease is not what it seems.

When an allegation of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy is leveled against Grace, she begins to live in constant suspicion of everyone -- from the doctors and nurses surrounding her son in the hospital to her own husband. Who could possibly think that she has been purposely making her son ill to gain attention for herself?

Although her husband believes their life is exactly as it seems to the outside world, Grace knows differently. She is harboring a secret -- the adulterous affair she's having with her first love. But perhaps her biggest betrayal of all is her shameful uncertainty about whether she's chosen the right path, the right husband, the right life.

In this compelling and heartbreaking novel, critically acclaimed author Maribeth Fischer addresses how the choices we made yesterday can affect everything that lies before us.

(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:05 -0400)

The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.

Quick Links

Ebooks Audio Swap
2 pay4/8

Popular covers

 

Help/FAQs | About | Privacy/Terms | Blog | Contact | LibraryThing.com | APIs | WikiThing | Common Knowledge | 47,033,174 books!