Shelter Me

In the tradition of Marisa de los Santos and Anne Tyler comes a moving debut about a young mother's year of heartbreak, loss, and forgiveness...and help that arrives from unexpected sources

Four months after her husband's death, Janie LaMarche remains undone by grief and anger. Her mourning is disrupted, however, by the unexpected arrival of a builder with a contract to add a porch onto her house. Stunned, Janie realizes the porch was meant to be a surprise from her husband--now his last gift to her.

As she reluctantly allows construction to begin, Janie clings to the familiar outposts of her sorrow--mothering her two small children with fierce protectiveness, avoiding friends and family, and stewing in a rage she can't release. Yet Janie's self-imposed isolation is breached by a cast of unlikely interventionists: her chattering, ipecac-toting aunt; her bossy, over-manicured neighbor; her muffin-bearing cousin; and even Tug, the contractor with a private grief all his own.

As the porch takes shape, Janie discovers that the unknowable terrain of the future is best navigated with the help of others--even those we least expect to call on, much less learn to love.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Published: 12/30/2008
ISBN: 9780061673399
Pages: 448
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.30w x 1.10d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 10/06/2008 pg. 34
Romantic Times 01/01/2009 pg. 56 - Very Good