Publisher : William Morrow Paperbacks (April 13, 2021)
Language : English
Paperback : 400 pages
ISBN-10 : 0062934872
Following her acclaimed debut novel, You and Me and Us, Alison Hammer offers a deeply moving story of family and identity. When a DNA test reveals a long-buried secret, a woman must look to the past to understand her mother and herself.
When Paige Meyer gets an email from a DNA testing website announcing that her father is a man she never met, she is convinced there must be a mistake. But as she digs deeper into her mother’s past and her own feelings of being the odd child out growing up, Paige begins to question everything she thought she knew. Could this be why Paige never felt like she fit in her family, and why her mother always seemed to keep her at an arm’s length? And what does it mean for Paige’s memories of her father, a man she idolized and whose death she is still grieving?
Back in 1975, Betsy Kaplan, Paige’s mom, is a straightlaced sophomore at the University of Kansas. When her sweet but boring boyfriend disappoints her, Betsy decides she wants more out of life, and is tired of playing it safe. Enter Andy Abrams, the golden boy on campus with a potentially devastating secret. After their night together has unexpected consequences, Betsy is determined to bury the truth and rebuild a stable life for her unborn child, whatever the cost.
When Paige can’t get answers from her mother, she goes looking for the only other person who was there that night. The more she learns about what happened, the more she sees her unflappable, distant mother as a real person faced with an impossible choice. But will it be enough to mend their broken relationship?
Told in dual timelines, Little Pieces of Me examines identity and how the way we define ourselves changes (or not) through our life experiences.
MY REVIEW:
TITLE: Little Pieces Of MeAUTHOR: Alison Hammer
PUB DATE: April 13, 2021 Now Available
This book had all of Alison Hammer’s trademark all over it for the immersive story line that is gripping, complex yet believable, thoroughly thought-provoking, and deeply moving.
This is another winner read for me and no one does complex family relationships like Alison does in a way that the build up of the story line captures you, and then the unraveling of the story from multiple point of views is just brilliant storytelling.
Told in two timelines, the present in 43 yo Paige’s point of view who is still reeling from the loss of her father, while a DNA test revealing her biological father, and in the past circa 1975 when Paige’s mother Betsy and Andy during their college years.
With very distinct story lines, we grapple with families and long buried secrets, challenging relationships, and the meaning of families in its biological and genetic sense, or otherwise.
What a great ride to read this amazing and most satisfying novel.
AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT:
Founder of Every Damn Day Writers, Alison Hammer has been spinning words to tell stories since she learned how to talk. A graduate of the University of Florida and the Creative Circus in Atlanta, she lived in 9 cities before settling down in Chicago. During the day, Alison is a VP Creative Director at FCB Chicago, but on nights and weekends you can find her writing upmarket women's fiction. Alison is represented by Joanna MacKenzie of Nelson Literary Agency. Her debut novel, YOU AND ME AND US is out now, and her second novel, LITTLE PIECES OF ME, will be out on April 13th, 2021 from William Morrow (HarperCollins).
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