MY FATHER’S HOUSE BY ROSE CHANDLER JOHNSON
When all illusions of happily-ever-after shatter, Lily must choose to abandon her husband or risk losing much more than her marriage in Rose Chandler Johnson’s debut novel, My Father’s House. She flees their home in Detroit and sets out on a fearful journey to a house in Georgia that her husband knows nothing about. This is one woman’s compelling tale of love and survival as she finds her way back home to who she’s meant to be . . . in her father’s house.
About the Book:
Growing up, life is idyllic for Lily Rose Cates due to one constant – her father’s love.
But in her sixteenth summer, all that changes without warning. There begins Lily’s struggle to find herself and the life she’s lost. . . . Marriage promises fulfillment, but her happily-ever-after barely survives the honeymoon. Her husband’s sophisticated façade hides a brooding man with even darker secrets.
When all illusions shatter, Lily must make hard choices – abandon her husband or risk losing much more than her marriage. She flees their home in Detroit and sets out on a fearful journey to a house in Georgia that her husband knows nothing about. This is one woman’s compelling tale of love and survival as she finds her way back home to who she’s meant to be . . . in her father’s house.
My Comments
There is a lot to like in this book. Lily is a few years younger than me, and like me was one of the first generation of girls whose futures did not automatically include a long career as a housewife. Still, getting an "Mrs." degree wasn't totally unheard of either. Her college years were over; her friends had moved on but she was in the college town working for peanuts when, on a visit to New York City, this Georgia girl meets a man.
He was waiter in the restaurant in which they were eating, but it turns out that he only did that for old times sake. In real life he was a lawyer (a rich one) in Detroit. There is a long-distance romance culminating in what was basically an elopement- a wedding held without consulting her family because she knew they would disapprove.
She moves to Detroit with her husband where, whether by his plan or by a combination of circumstances, she becomes socially isolated. Their marriage is floundering and then one day he hits her. She starts planning to leave him and not long thereafter something happens that makes her realize it needs to be now, not later and with the help of her college roommate she flees to a house her father left her that she had never told her husband about.
She goes to this small town and immediately becomes a part of the community--making friends, helping others, getting a job--even though when she was in Detroit she rarely left her building through she had plenty of money and her husband told her to call a cab if she wanted to go somewhere.
He was waiter in the restaurant in which they were eating, but it turns out that he only did that for old times sake. In real life he was a lawyer (a rich one) in Detroit. There is a long-distance romance culminating in what was basically an elopement- a wedding held without consulting her family because she knew they would disapprove.
She moves to Detroit with her husband where, whether by his plan or by a combination of circumstances, she becomes socially isolated. Their marriage is floundering and then one day he hits her. She starts planning to leave him and not long thereafter something happens that makes her realize it needs to be now, not later and with the help of her college roommate she flees to a house her father left her that she had never told her husband about.
She goes to this small town and immediately becomes a part of the community--making friends, helping others, getting a job--even though when she was in Detroit she rarely left her building through she had plenty of money and her husband told her to call a cab if she wanted to go somewhere.
While I enjoyed reading the book and liked Lily, the writing was uneven. Certain parts of the book were well-written; but other things happened that just didn't seem realistic. Her final encounter with her husband fit in that category.
The book is self-published and has that look to it. As a low-priced Kindle book, I'd say you'd get your money's worth; at the price of the paperback, I'd be dissapointed.
I'd like to thank Litfuse Book Tours for providing a complimentary book in exchange for a review. Grade: B-. You can learn more about the book and its author and sample other reviews here.
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