“The book is by turns humorous, witty, moving, upbeat. Jenny is a warm, sensitive heroine. It’s a pleasure to watch her and a privilege to eavesdrop on her thoughts. Highly recommended…” LIBRARY JOURNAL
Jenny and Richard Weaver were going to live happily ever after. Then Richard took his life.
A year after Richard's death Jenny impulsively moves from the Northeast to California with their two young children, hoping for a fresh start. The children adjust to the move, but she can’t seem to find her way.
When she meets people in California and they ask about her husband, she tells them she is a widow. Then she lowers her eyelids to let them know that his death is too recent to discuss. Most people get the message and don’t ask more questions.
But the children aren't put off by her lowered eyelids. They are asking about their daddy. They want to know how-and-why Daddy died, and she doesn’t know what to tell them.
In a moment of deep frustration and loneliness, Jenny begins writing to Richard, sharing her most intimate thoughts. She writes about her daily life—bullying at work, the difficulties of being a single parent, and after some hesitation, a new romance.
Jenny also writes about the past. She looks back at their marriage and family life, and begins to see how it went wrong. As she gets closer to the truth and the past becomes threatening, she decides not to write to him anymore. But she finds it impossible to stop. The answer to their children's questions is in the past, and she can't hide from the truth forever.
In this intimate, compelling novel, a young widow discovers her own strength and identity after the devastating loss of her husband. Realities was a selection of the Swedish Book-of-the-Month Club.
Keywords: recovering after suicide loss, lonely young widow, starting over after suicide, widow with children, dating single mom, surviving suicide loss, guilt and grief, healing after suicide
About the author
Marian D. Schwartz was born in Buffalo, New York. Books were her escape from the legendary Buffalo winters and probably contributed to her becoming a writer. Now she lives in Central Virginia near the Blue Ridge Mountains, where she enjoys gardening with the exception of fighting deer, who also enjoy her garden by browsing there regularly. Her books include The Last Season, The Story of a Marriage, Harry Danced Divinely, War on Giffort Street, The Writers’ Conference, and Realities, which was a selection of the Swedish Book-of-the-Month Club.