Blog touring today with Kelly Lacey of Love Books Group Tours, Matador Books and author Deborah Stone.
What’s Left Unsaid is a complex, intimate look into the lives of Sasha, her husband Jeremy, teenage son Zac, ageing mom Annie … and in a very clever and interesting twist on the usual narrative, her late dad Joe!
I identified so closely with Sasha whose life is literally crumbling around her no matter how hard she tries to stop it. She tries so desperately to hold onto the wonderful ‘normality’ she imagined she had achieved after growing up in the glare of the media spotlight, but no matter how hard she grasps onto those last threads of the life she’s created, it slips through her fingers.
Zac has become a monosyllabic, surely, challenging teenager and Jeremy is absent more than he’s there, making himself less and less available to Sasha on whatever level she hopes to reach him on.
I found Annie just heartbreaking. Deborah Stone has created a character here who readers will want to enfold in a warm hug, while at the same time wanting to push her as far away as possible! The author’s sensitivity and empathy in dealing with both the sadness of Annie’s childhood, coupled with the confusion and fear of her current dementia is to be truly admired.
The interjection of the late Joe’s quick wit and his perception … albeit from beyond the grave … adds an extra dimension … and something to think about. Do you think our loved ones continue to interact with us once they’re gone? Are they out there somewhere watching us, guiding us, waiting for us?
Everyone makes daily decisions about what to share or not to share with others. What’s Left Unsaid may well leave readers questioning their own relationships and how they might do things differently in the future.
This gets 4 warm, bright stars from me! I highly recommend it.
Follow the rest of the blog tour here …
Jan's Book Buzz 
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