Tender Graces
Nov 25, 2009
Tender Graces
Kathryn Magendie
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books (April 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0982175620
ISBN-13: 978-0982175620
This is one of those wonderfully written books that tell a tale of families that are often times a bad mix, sometimes even poisonous to each other, but somehow manage to pull through with a deep and abiding love for each other - even when it's not deserved.
Virginia Kate and her siblings are growing up in the mountains of Appalachia. Her parents met and married young, perhaps too young. Her mother, Katie, married to escape a brutal father and Virginia's father was overwhelmed by the wild beauty of Katie without really taking the time to know her.
Sadly, as the wheels of time turned, we have two adults who begin drinking way too much and the love and affection shown to the children - while it never turns to abuse it hate - it turns to neglect. Finally Virginia's father leaves and finds a new life with a new wife.
He does love his children and fights to get them back once he's settled on a better track than before. The sad part of this story is the slow dissolution of Virginia Kate's mother and how, as she falls deeper into a pit of alcoholism and self involvement, she slowly sheds her children and her affection for them - breaking their hearts one by one.
But instead of the family falling apart and heading off into separate lives and avoidance of the past, they struggle to keep their love strong and stay entwined as best they can with each other.
A lovely book of determination and love overcoming nearly impossible odds.
____________________________
Kathryn Magendie
Author of Tender Graces
Co-Editor/Publisher, Rose & Thorn Ezine
Website: http://kathrynmagendie.com/
http://tendergraces.blogspot.
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