The Geography of Love is a beautiful, moving, uplifting, and heartbreaking memoir. Glenda Burgess has given us a remembrance of her marriage, and her husband that carries such a core of truth that it is difficult to put it down.

After a successful career with the State Department, Glenda has decided to return to the United States and start fresh. She meets a man, Ken, 13 years her senior who has already been widowed twice, his first wife died in a car accident, and his second wife was murdered in her bedroom while their toddler slept in the next room. His daughter has grown up emotionally scarred and her relationship with Ken is shaky and turbulent. With Ken's past and problems, most women would head for the hills, but Glenda had a sure belief that this could be good. Even though Ken had given up on the very idea of love, he too, managed one more leap of faith and together they built a life, a love and a wonderful family. Their faith and love would be tested in sad and painful ways, and yet, the love and devotion always manages to shine through.

This is a very sad book in many ways; it can bring you to tears at the most unexpected places. And yet it also can give you a deep sense of peace, a profound desire to have this kind of marriage, and a deep sense of gratitude if you already do. This was an ordinary happy family, and it's easy to see yourselves in the pages. Seeing how a couple can gain such strength from their relationship shows us that, perhaps we can all respond to the worst adversity possible with grace and dignity. Ken's compassion, consideration and kindness throughout the darkest of his days stand as an example to us all. The author's courage in reliving these times shows us yet another place to explore in the geography of our own lives. ( )

Memoirs of love found and love lost to illness and death are an ever increasing category of writing today. Glenda Burgess' THE GEOGRAPHY OF LOVE sounds interesting from the blurbs on the back of the back but unfortunately that's where it ends. I found myself referring to the back of the book often to remind myself that this is a memoir and not fiction. The plot and characters are flat and benign and do not inspire empathy. Sad yes, insightful no. It is painful not to like a memoir as the reader knows that they writer has opened up their private life to the public in hope of eliciting interest, sympathy and an "aha" moment. We all want to know that we do not suffer alone but we must feel depth in a memoir to make it relevant.

There are three outstanding memoirs about the loss of a loved one that bear reading perhaps annually as the lessons are strong, the writing outstanding and the characters worthy of intense love, care and concern for their extraordinary loss. Even if you are not a tear shedder these three books will cause rivulets of salt water running down your face not only for the death but the exquisite beauty of the writing.

THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion paints a vivid picture of life with a celebrated man. Two writers in one home could be a recipe for disaster. In Ms. Didion's case it was an outstanding partnership. The loss of John Gregory Dunne was intense particularly on the heels of the inexplicable loss of their daughter.

EVENINGS AT FIVE by Gail Godwin is a petite memoir of a very specific time and place. Her prose has you sitting right there with her before and after her loss. The reader longs for a love this amazing and life rocking. The very idea that you love your significant other so much that the end of the day beckons for decades, a ritual that is the highlight of each day. EVENINGS AT FIVE commands the reader's attention and the language insists that you read it straight through to the end in one sitting. I re-read it immediately to keep the emotion in place for as long as possible.

Harriet Doerr's STONES FOR IBARRA is a loving portrait of a marriage that soars beyond mere words. Ms. Doerr's writing brings the reader deeply inside her life and one doesn't want to leave the warmth of her relationship or the beauty of her home in Mexico. Reading this annually is a reminder that honest, lasting and eternal love is possible.

I've tried several times over the past few months to read this book and get through the first chapter, but with no luck. I guess I was hoping for a road map of love, but instead this is a memoir that fails to grab my attention.

A moving and heartfelt memoir of life after Burgess' husband's cancer diagnosis. Her beautiful language tells an inspiring story of how love endures. Recommended.

It is always difficult to review memoirs, but I will try to anyway. The Geography of Love is a moving love story. At times, it may seem like the love Burgess has for her husband is too much, but as I said, this is someone’s experience, and it is hard to criticize it. Burgess' battle with cancer and how she sees the good in her husband, even with his questionable past is inspiring. I just have to say that it wasn’t the easiest thing to get through in the beginning because of her language choice, but the story is quite unbelievable, and that is what makes you push through it. ( )