About the Book:
Twenty-year-old Abigail Turner has only known her mother, Claire—who died shortly after she was born—through letters, videos, postcards, and journals. Abby’s father, Josh, has raised his precious daughter himself, but his overprotectiveness has become stifling. Abby longs to forge out on her own and see the world after a childhood trapped indoors: she suffers from bronchopulmonary dysplasia, which means a case of the sniffles can rapidly escalate into life-threatening pneumonia.
But when Abby’s doctor declares her healthy—for now—her grandmother Millie whisks her away to Europe to visit the Christmas markets that her mother cherished and chronicled in her travel journals. Despite her father’s objections, Abby and Millie embark on a journey of discovery in which Abby will learn secrets that force her to reevaluate her image of her mother and come to a more mature understanding of a parent-child bond that transcends death.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Steena Holmes offers a tender and heartfelt exploration of parental love and a daughter’s longing for connection in the poignant next chapter following Saving Abby.
My Comments:
I can't imagine what it must be like to lose a spouse in the prime of life. I also can't image what it must be like to have a child who is sick "all the time" and whose health really is fragile. I also can't image what it must be like to be that child who hasn't been able to do anything because of poor health. That child is Abby.
She's been homeschooled to keep her away from the germ factories that regular schools are. She isn't allowed outside in the winter (and she lives in Canada where winter is a real season, not in south Louisiana where it is a periodic event). Blogging is her connection to the outside world.
In Abby's Journey
Abby and her grandmother travel through the Christmas markets of Germany and Austria--markets Abby's deceased mother loved and during that trip Abby comes of age--no this isn't a book about sexual exploration but one of claiming adulthood, of making decisions about how to lead life and accepting the consequences. It is a book about accepting the humanity of your parents--and I don't mean teenaged eyerolls that express the obvious stupidity of the older generation--but rather the realization that your parents really were young once, that they've made mistakes and that they've even had sex. Since Abby knows her mother only through videos, letters, journals and the memories of others, secrets were easy to keep. In this journey, some are revealed.
Abby and her grandmother travel through the Christmas markets of Germany and Austria--markets Abby's deceased mother loved and during that trip Abby comes of age--no this isn't a book about sexual exploration but one of claiming adulthood, of making decisions about how to lead life and accepting the consequences. It is a book about accepting the humanity of your parents--and I don't mean teenaged eyerolls that express the obvious stupidity of the older generation--but rather the realization that your parents really were young once, that they've made mistakes and that they've even had sex. Since Abby knows her mother only through videos, letters, journals and the memories of others, secrets were easy to keep. In this journey, some are revealed.
I really enjoyed Abby's Journey, both the journey around Europe and the journey to adulthood and give this book an A.
I'd like to thank the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley. I was not obligated to write any review, much less a positive one.
