Tethered: A Novel

Such an amazing read! Had me on the edge of my seat, trying to figure who was behind this tragic tale. Very, very well written, start to finish, and the end is eye gluingly suspenseful!

Tethered is not a read for everyone. Yet, it is, just told a little differently. Clara Marsh hasn't had a happy life. She now lives peacefully among the dead - preparing the dead for funerals at a funeral parlor. Her boss and his wife love her as a daughter, but Clara can't seem to reach out and join humanity. Here comes a little girl, Trecie, who plays and hangs out at the funeral parlor. Something is strangely familiar about the girl - whether Trecie reminds Clara of herself as a child, or of a victim of murder she prepared for burial a few years before. Clara and Trecie form a kind of friendship. A local cop, Mike, whom Clara has a mutual attraction with also is in the periphery of Clara's life. I read this book in one day. It touched chords in me. Maybe weird curiosity how one prepares the dead - maybe the brilliant way MacKinnon brings her characters to life - you feel their pain, their hopes, the loneliness... It brought to mind when I was a kid in college taking an art appreciation course - my prof had the class go to an exhibit of a Polish artist. The paintings were so stark it hit you and made a lasting impression. It is this feeling I get from Tethered. I must say that the cover was what drew me initially to this book. You are caught between curiosity and empathy and you want to see what this book is about. A brilliant debut. MacKinnon's style is like one of the Mozart works Clara uses to keep her company while she performs this service for the dead - it is heartfelt, captivating, and oh so amazing.

I loved this book from beginning to end and highly recommend it! Tethered by Amy MacKinnon is a hypnotic novel, drawing the reader into the story with its first line. The writing is incredible, words are put together in such a beautiful way, it's hard to describe; you just have to experience it yourself. The main character is a mortician named Clara Marsh whose physical and emotional characteristics are described by the author in such detail that I felt I knew her like I would a good friend. (And I came to care about her almost as much.) Amy MacKinnon has created a world where every character and scene is drawn so clearly that the reader's mental picture is complete. The plot is captivating and even after you think you have it "figured out," there is more to be revealed right until the very end. They say a performer should always leave an audience wanting more; if that is the measuring stick with which to judge all pieces of entertainment, then this book is a winner! I think this book would be great for book clubs because of all the various aspects of the story there are to discuss, such as the characters, the mystery, and the relationships.

Amy McKinnon's debut novel, Tethered, is a bright yellow sunflower in a dull grey world. A haunting, beautifully written novel takes us into the depths of a mortician's life and the fragility of the human heart. Clara is used to being alone while she prepares the dead. She doesn't so much as believe in God or a higher purpose, but she has her own way of honoring those she tends. She lights her candles, plays her soothing music and chooses carefully the flowers she will bury with them. She grows her own flowers in her greenhouse, and knows the meaning of all the flowers. Daisies she usually saves for the children as it means innocence. Clara had a troubled childhood. Her mother, who died when she was young , didn't set the best example. So Clara she goes to live with her grandmother--a God-fearing woman who essentially abuses Clara's psych. Clara is so used to being alone, it's become second nature to try and absorb herself into the woodwork. She lets no one get close to her-until one day when she finds Trecie, a young girl, hanging around the funeral parlor. Clara thinks nothing of it until a routine body pickup uncovers a stash of child pornography and Clara recognizes Trecie in a video. The ensuing investigation also points to Precious Doe, an unidentified child murdered three years earlier and whose grave Clara secretly often visits. Aided by a sensitive Irish cop, Det. Mike Sullivan, to whom she's attracted, Clara tries to unravel the mystery, even if that means confronting her own unpleasant past. This novel took me by surprise. So full of human emotion, and vivid writing, you'll be relating to the heroine in some way. I couldn't turn the pages quick enough to get more about Clara and Trecie. I will definitely be looking forward to reading more from this author. Armchair Interviews says: A new talent who shines as bright as a star. Highly recommended

My favorite books tend to be the ones that address real human emotion; nothing fluffy about human emotion. And Tethered doesn't pretend that there is. The funeral home employee, Clara, is so real and just dead on (no pun intended!) to any real person who has endured anything other than a starlet's life. All of Mackinnon's characters are real people, her talent lies in never pandering to literary stereotypes or the demand for a perfect heroine with "cute" and easily overcome flaws. As Clara's life, past and present, unfolds around the mystery of Precious Doe's short life and heartbreaking death I found myself identifying MUCH more than I would have expected with her isolation and desire to simply move on and have an easy, if lonely, life, and then her ultimate struggle to overcome those all-too-human tendencies. Book clubs will have much to discuss with themes of solitude, the limits of memory, retribution and redemption. Highly recommended.

I was privileged to read a review copy of Amy's novel a few weeks ago. Tethered is a well-crafted story that will leave you thinking, "That could be happening right here in my city." Nothing is as it seems, and you meet a compassionate and remarkable heroine in the strangest place - the embalming room of a funeral home.