The Things We Do for Love
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Kristin Hannah returns with The Things We Do for Love – a poignant, evocative story that celebrates the magic of motherhood, the joys of coming home, and the price we so willingly pay for love.
The youngest of three daughters, Angela DeSaria Malone was always “the princess” of the family, a girl who thought she knew how her life would unfold. High School. College. Marriage. Motherhood. That was how it had gone for her sisters, her cousins, her friends. But it didn’t work out that way for Angie. She and her husband tried desperately to have a child; year after year, their perfectly decorated nursery remained empty. Finally, their marriage collapsed under the weight of lost dreams.
After the divorce, Angie moved back to her hometown and rejoined her loud, loving, slightly crazy family. In West End, a place where life rises and falls in time with the tides, she will find the man who once again will open her heart to love…and meet the girl who will change Angie’s life.
Lauren Ribido lives in a rundown apartment in a bad part of town with a mother who cares more about her next drink than about her daughter. At seventeen, Lauren knows that her aspirations in life may never come to pass.
From the moment they meet, Angie sees something special in Lauren. They form a quick connection, this woman who is desperate for a daughter and the girl who has never known a mother’s love. When Lauren is abandoned by her mother, Angie doesn’t hesitate to offer the girl a place to stay.
But nothing could have prepared Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of this act of kindness. In a dramatic turn of events, she and Lauren will be tested in a way that mothers and daughters seldom are. Together they will embark on an intensely moving, deeply emotional journey to the very heart of what it means to be a family.
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In my (almost) never-ending quest to read all of Hannah's book, I stumbled on this early novel at the second-hand store. How nice.
Both the subject matter and the plot keep me engaged. As a women, and someone who obsessively follows the news, how could the topic of abortion not be engaging?
Angela's desperation to have a child has forced her marriage to shipwreck of the rocks of that obsession. She's a women who is used to accomplishing her goals. She tries to occupy herself by coming home to run the family restaurant, which as a perfectionist, she is adept at doing. But that still doesn't provide her with a baby or with the relationship she needs.
Enter Lauren, a poor teenage girl with an absent mother and no father in the picture. Her adorable, rich, and loyal boyfriend is clueless when it comes to the real world. When Lauren turns up pregnant, David is completely out of his depths. Lauren applies for a job at Angela's restaurant and their friendship turns into more of a mother/daughter relationship.
It was interesting how this book explored the idea of a teenage mother as well as an infertile woman. I'm not sure I agree with how Lauren's thought process over the baby was explained, but it's not an easy topic. Should she keep the baby? Have an abortion? Give the child up for adoption?
However, I thought Angela's experience with needing a child was very realistic. And how she tried to achieve that was also well done. My heart ached for her, maybe because I was faced with the same issue for year, albeit with a different outcome.
The ending was well done, not a pat answer to a huge question. Definitely buy this book!
