By Laura Moriarty
Despite a difficult childhood and adolescence, Leigh Churchill grew up to have a good life. She works at the local school as an English teacher, she has great husband, Gary who is a professor, and she has two good kids: Kara, a popular 18 year old about to graduate high school, and Justin, a sensitive, artistic boy with no friends.
Then, in an instant, everything changes, as often happens in novels and in life. The story begins a few days before Kara’s graduation when she accidentally runs a stop sign and her car hits her classmate, killing her. Kara is completely devastated and the accident affects the entire family, as well as their small town Kansas community. Leigh and Kara have always had a strained relationship despite Leigh’s best intentions, maybe a result of problems with her own mother, who moved to California for a new life, leaving Leigh to fend for herself at age fifteen.
I expected this book to focus on the legal ramifications of Kara’s action with an investigation and criminal or civil trial, like a Jodi Piccoult novel. However, Moriarty seems more interested in the moral issues. Kara’s heavy guilt makes her reluctant to accept the plea bargain offered by the prosecutors; she wants her punishment to be severe because of the horrible thing she has done. Readers will also sympathize with Leigh and her efforts to mend her distant relationship with Kara at this crucial and difficult moment. Although Leigh and Kara are not always likeable characters, I liked how this book focused on the complex relationships between mothers and daughters and families. An accident like Kara’s could happen to anyone and hurting an innocent bystander is any driver’s greatest fear, which makes this story easy to relate to. A worthwhile and absorbing book.
Despite a difficult childhood and adolescence, Leigh Churchill grew up to have a good life. She works at the local school as an English teacher, she has great husband, Gary who is a professor, and she has two good kids: Kara, a popular 18 year old about to graduate high school, and Justin, a sensitive, artistic boy with no friends.
Then, in an instant, everything changes, as often happens in novels and in life. The story begins a few days before Kara’s graduation when she accidentally runs a stop sign and her car hits her classmate, killing her. Kara is completely devastated and the accident affects the entire family, as well as their small town Kansas community. Leigh and Kara have always had a strained relationship despite Leigh’s best intentions, maybe a result of problems with her own mother, who moved to California for a new life, leaving Leigh to fend for herself at age fifteen.
I expected this book to focus on the legal ramifications of Kara’s action with an investigation and criminal or civil trial, like a Jodi Piccoult novel. However, Moriarty seems more interested in the moral issues. Kara’s heavy guilt makes her reluctant to accept the plea bargain offered by the prosecutors; she wants her punishment to be severe because of the horrible thing she has done. Readers will also sympathize with Leigh and her efforts to mend her distant relationship with Kara at this crucial and difficult moment. Although Leigh and Kara are not always likeable characters, I liked how this book focused on the complex relationships between mothers and daughters and families. An accident like Kara’s could happen to anyone and hurting an innocent bystander is any driver’s greatest fear, which makes this story easy to relate to. A worthwhile and absorbing book.
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