Home Away from Home

Anna Rainey 's husband Dill dies at the age of 36. She blames herself, because she did not have the garage door fixed, and it delayed getting him to the hospital. Unable to forgive herself , and also unable to return to their home without him, she spends time with family and friends. This book is far from maudlin. It's touching and witty. Who knows how any of us would react to the death of a spouse. At any age it has to be a very difficult thing to come to terms with. I look forward to Lorna Cook's next book and I highly endorse you read this one.

What does a 34 year old woman do when she suddenly loses her husband? In Home Away from Home, the author Lorna J. Cook explores widowhood for one woman, Anna Rainey, a character you will be rooting for from the first page. Anna, a list maker and academic counselor never expected her 36 year old husband to suddenly die from a brain aneurysm. And neither did she expect not to return to their home after his funeral. But for the main character of this book, becoming a widow sends her spiraling downward and the one place she can't get back to is her home. Moving from one friend to another over the course of a year and a day, Anna desperately tries to make some sense of her life and her husband's death. Although she returns to her job after several weeks of being absent and even has a brief encounter with a younger man, she can't seem to go back to the home she shared with her husband Dill. Even the other members in her support group seem to be coming to terms with their loss but for Anna her life continues to be as if her feet were rooted in sand. How Anna finally copes and comes to the conclusion that as painful as widowhood is, life is for the living, will have you cheering for Anna at the end and wishing her well. Many years ago, the author Lynn Caine captured in her book Widow, her experience when her husbanded died leaving her with two small children. While Ms. Cook wrote a fictcional account of widowhood, it did remind me in many ways of Ms. Caine's book. Like the character in from Home Away from Home and the the grief stricken widow, Lynn Caine, decisions were made that others questioned. But then who can say how one reacts to this situations. And for both the true widow and the fictional one, everyoen around them gave advice and thought they kewn what was best for them. Home Away from Home is a poignant and emotional book. It is well written and certainly opens ones eyes to what life could be like when the one you love is gone. In exploring how one woman looks grief squarely in the eye and then deals with the rest of her life, Ms. Cook also provides her readers with a character who will stay with them long after they close the book. I look forward to reading Lorna J. Cook in the future. As the author Elizabeth Berg wrote in a blurb at the front of the book, "Keep an eye on Lorna Cook." I certainly plan on doing this and recommend you do too.