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Life Without Summer: A Novel by Lynne…
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Life Without Summer: A Novel (edition 2009)

by Lynne Griffin

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16712163,313 (3.54)3
Tessa Gray's life changes forever when she loses her four-year-old daughter, Abby, in a hit-and-run accident outside her preschool. Once a vivacious, joyful mother and wife, Tessa now spends her days holed up in Abby's room, sleeping in her bed, clutching Abby's Tootsie Rabbit stuffed animal - anything to keep her memories close. As Tessa grapples with a terrible grief, made worse by the police's insistence that the case is unsolvable, she finds solace in Celia Reed, the therapist her husband has pushed her to see, and in the journal she's keeping, where she compulsively counts the "days without Abby" and maps out her plan for catching the driver who tore her family apart.As Celia struggles to keep Tessa from getting caught up in a bleak crusade for answers, she finds that their sessions open the door to emotions that she's spent years ignoring, forcing her to face the rising tensions in her life - her troubled teenage son, her alcoholic ex-husband, and her fragile new marriage. Celia begins to realize that she must come to terms with the tragic mistakes of her past and the choices that have led her family to their own brink of destruction.A haunting portrait of two women whose lives converge unexpectedly, Life Without Summer illuminates connections between love, marriage, truth, and forgiveness no listener will forget.… (more)
Member:annie7364
Title:Life Without Summer: A Novel
Authors:Lynne Griffin
Info:St. Martin's Press (2009), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 320 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:None

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Life Without Summer by Lynne Griffin

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English (11)  French (1)  All languages (12)
Showing 1-5 of 11 (next | show all)
Life Without Summer is a haunting portrait of two women whose lives converge unexpectedly when the answers one needs turn out to be the other's only chance for peace. Looking forward to reading more from this author!!
( )
  JudithDCollins | Nov 27, 2014 |
Just plain great! I read Sea Escape and liked it so much that I wondered what else Griffin had written and here was her debut novel and what a way to begin! In some ways you feel as though you know what's coming but it's an amazing puzzle she has put together in this book. I wish I still had it to read and am looking forward to more from her! ( )
  nyiper | Oct 25, 2012 |
This is a debut novel? Wow, I am so impressed! This book is written with the depth and feeling of a seasoned novelist. The main character Tessa's grief over the death of her daughter envelopes the reader from the first couple of pages. I could feel her moving through the stages of grief, however resistant and unwilling she was to move at all. The parallel storyline of Tessa's therapist Celia and her broken family was equally interesting and broke up the sadness in the novel. Without the alternating between the two storylines, the book may have become too depressing.

Although I saw the ending a mile away, I still could not put this book down! The characters were so likable and the stories so intertwined that it really made for a thoughtful and beautiful book. ( )
  TemeculaMomma | Jun 12, 2012 |
It’s a true-like book telling the story of two women. A story that could happen in any neighbourhood. I felt as if I understood what the characters were about. The characters were not over exaggerated or It’s It's a true-like book telling the story of two women. Thier lives, their family, their struggles their loss and their choices. A story that could happen in any neighbourhood. I felt I understood the characters. The characters were not over exaggerated or phoney. There were times in the book that I could relate with the character.

The story kept me engaged. Just like in life, there were parts that I predicted, but the way that it was read it still held my attention. It was smooth reading and hard to set aside. A simple, pleasant read yet enticing story.

Loved it. ( )
2 vote callmejacx | Nov 20, 2011 |
corny and sentimental but pretty well-written. ( )
  dablackwood | Jul 30, 2010 |
Showing 1-5 of 11 (next | show all)
Tessa en haar man Ethan vormden samen met hun dochtertje Abby het ideale gezinnetje, maar hun geluk spatte uiteen toen ze Abby verloren door een auto-ongeluk waarbij de dader is doorgereden. Ethan probeert zo goed en zo kwaad als het gaat zijn leven weer op te pakken, maar Tessa kan het verlies niet verwerken. Ze bijt zich vast in de zoektocht naar de dader, temeer omdat het politieonderzoek niet wil vlotten.
Ze gaat uiteindelijk naar een psycholoog, Celia. Zij heeft zelf tien jaar daarvoor haar dochtertje Summer verloren aan leukemie. Door de ontmoetingen met Tessa wordt Celia geconfronteerd met het verleden en er komen emoties los die ze jarenlang heeft onderdrukt. Bovendien wordt ze gedwongen om de nieuwe spanningen in haar leven onder ogen te zien: haar humeurige tienerzoon, een ex-man met een drankprobleem en haar wankele nieuwe huwelijk. Ze zal moeten leren leven met de fouten die ze in het verleden heeft gemaakt en de keuzes die haar gezin uiteen deden vallen.
added by rieja | editVan Stockum internet boekhandel (Nov 26, 2011)
 
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"Oh summer day beside the joyous seal. O summer day so wonderful and white. So full of gladness and so full of pain! Forever and forever shalt thou to be. To some the gravestones of a dead delight. To some the landmark of a new domain." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - A Summer Day By The Sea
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"There's a thud as her little body collides with the front fender."
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Tessa Gray's life changes forever when she loses her four-year-old daughter, Abby, in a hit-and-run accident outside her preschool. Once a vivacious, joyful mother and wife, Tessa now spends her days holed up in Abby's room, sleeping in her bed, clutching Abby's Tootsie Rabbit stuffed animal - anything to keep her memories close. As Tessa grapples with a terrible grief, made worse by the police's insistence that the case is unsolvable, she finds solace in Celia Reed, the therapist her husband has pushed her to see, and in the journal she's keeping, where she compulsively counts the "days without Abby" and maps out her plan for catching the driver who tore her family apart.As Celia struggles to keep Tessa from getting caught up in a bleak crusade for answers, she finds that their sessions open the door to emotions that she's spent years ignoring, forcing her to face the rising tensions in her life - her troubled teenage son, her alcoholic ex-husband, and her fragile new marriage. Celia begins to realize that she must come to terms with the tragic mistakes of her past and the choices that have led her family to their own brink of destruction.A haunting portrait of two women whose lives converge unexpectedly, Life Without Summer illuminates connections between love, marriage, truth, and forgiveness no listener will forget.

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