Brimming with tenderness.  A fully immersive story that filled my heart.  

 

I love getting lost in a person’s story.  Their experiences.  The emotion.  The lessons.  My heart touched.  My empathy stretched.   

 

Yet…. I often negate my own story.   

 

I imagine that our main character, Lara, felt much the same.  Or she did until her grown children insisted that she recount that summer long ago, almost a different lifetime, when she was an actress in the theater company at Tom Lake.   

 

There’s such an intimacy in unveiling yourself.   As Lara did so, revealing new facets of herself to her children, my momma heart swelled.  I found myself swept away in the emotion.  

 

The pace was perfect for reflection, Lara’s and my own.  It made me ponder the fullness of my life.  The wealth of experience and learning that happened in the “before.”  

 

Patchett delivers a true literary masterpiece. The writing so poignant and utterly enthralling.  The prose is poetic and the storytelling rich. 

 

This was the most beautiful journey brimming with nostalgia and comfort.  I savored the experience and was sad when it ended.  As I closed the last page, I was motivated by Ann to maybe, one day, tell my story too.  

 

👯‍♀️ This made for a fantastic conversation with my friend @antipodeanbookclub

 

➡️ Of note:  I rewatched Our Town prior to this read, and it amplified my experience immensely.  

 

🎧 Partnering the physical copy with the audiobook is THE way to go.  Your eyes are going to want to feast over the beautiful prose (while wildly annotating).  Oh but your ears… they deserve the perfection that is Merryll Streep.  Merryll embodied every nuance in Lara’s character and made her fully alive.