The first time I picked up this book I wasn't drawn in. On second glance, I finished it in one day. It is a novel about two mothers who have lost young children. Tessa, loses her 3 year old daughter after she is the victim of a hit in run in front of her preschool. It is a horrific act to contemplate. A young child mowed down and left to due. Tessa becomes obsessed with finding out the truth behind this accident, stops working as a freelance writer and allows her marriage to falter.The story is told both through Tessa's viewpoint and that of her therapist, Celia, who has her own family troubles: an alcoholic ex, a teenage son acting out and crying for help, a rocky new marriage and a tragedy from the past that she has yet to overcome.
Part of me drew a parallel between this novel and A. M. Holme's In a Country of Mothers because of the dual perspectives, one of which is a therapist in both novels. The books deal with wildly diverging issues and yet they are both about motherhood and loss. And both involve shifting lens and the inside view of therapy, thus my connection.
In the end, there is a big surprise and the end is somewhat unsettling but overall it was an engaging read.
