Friday, November 14, 2008

Shelter Me-Juliette Fay

Shelter Me
Juliette Fay
Avon, Jan 2009, $13.95
ISBN 9780061673399

In Pelham, Massachusetts, thirty-eight years old Janie LaMarche is stunned to learn her husband Robby died in a motorcycle accident. She needs to grieve, but must hide her inner torment from their two preschool aged children, Dylan and toddler Carly. Each, but especially the older Dylan questions when will daddy come home?

As a pleasant surprise for his wife, before Robby died four months ago, he hired contractor Tug Malinowski to build a screened-in porch. Divorcee Tug is stunned how attracted he is to the new widow although he tries to hide his feelings out of respect for her grief. She in turn finds herself shockingly wanting someone else who she knows should be beyond temptation; which adds to her overall depression.

Janie is a complete character who owns the novel as she mourns her loss yet tries to put up a strong front for her bewildered children. Her journal entries display her confusion, her fears, and her grief as she doubts she will be able to cope as a single mom raising two children feeling overwhelmed by her trials and tribulations. The two new men in her life add to her overall bewilderment. Juliet Fay provides a deep character study focusing on a depressed person, buried in grief and fear with no outlet for her stress that she hides from her kids while also over time starts to marvel about the beauty and wonder of life.

Harriet Klausner

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