Things I Want My Daughters to Know

For a while my mom worked from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. We would get home from school and go across the street to the Sharum's house until my dad got home from work. Valerie would feed us snacks and we would play with Graham and Jerry. Sometimes, when my dad got home we would continue to play until it was dark outside.

But sometimes I would just want to be at home with my mom. When we were a bit older I would tell Valerie I needed to get something from my house and she would give me the spare key she had so I could go get whatever it was I after. I would run to my parents' room and lay down on the bed with my face buried in my mom's pillow. Even though she would be home in a few hours I missed her so.

That's how this book made me feel. While the story of the daughters was woven through my mind, in the background I was thinking of my own mom & daughter. Desperately missing them even though they were right there.

Elizabeth Noble's novel tells the story of a legacy a mother leaves behind for her children. When Barbara accepts that she is dying she writes letters and a journal to her four daughters, saying the things she might not have the time or the courage to say before she leaves them. In the year after Barbara's passing the four daughters must repair their lives from both the grief of losing their mother and the mistakes they make on their own. All the while Barabara's husband struggles with his own sadness and attempts at being the one the girls come to for the advice they didn't get while Barbara was still alive.

A lovely, reflective story, not nearly as lighthearted as her previous novels, but wonderful nonetheless.