This was a very good read I give it a thumbs up.
There are many stirred up feelings and emotions when your read Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand. The author is a native from Nantucket.
I have been reading too many THINK books it was time to read something totally different. I thought this would be a beach read. But it was a little more deeper than I thought. Still it was a good read. I recommend this highly.
The book is about 3 woman with a situation to resolve.
Two of the women are sisters, the other is a friend.
One of the sisters, Vicky has cancer. She decides she wants to have treatment at her summer house in Nantucket. She invites her sister Brenda, and her friend Melanie.
Her sister, Brenda is a professor from a esteemed college. She was caught having a affair with one of here students. When she is confronted about it she looses her temper. She ruins a expensive painting worth millions. She will never find another teaching position again. She is being sued by the school for the painting. She did hire a lawyer, who keeps coming into the picture when Brenda doesn't want to face the problem. While she is in Nantucket she is writing a play to help with the money. But first she is taken back why Vicky asked Melanie to come to Nantucket.
She would have been happier if it was just her and her sister, Vicky, not inviting Melanie too. But after awhile she accepts it.
Brenda decides to take her sister on the offer to go with her to Nantucket, and get away from all her problems at home and help take care of nephew and niece. Melanie, finds out her husband Peter is having a affair,and they have been trying for years to have children. Of course she feels betrayed. Then into the mix is Josh a college student. Vicky decides to hire him as the babysitter for her two young children.
Vicky decides to hire Josh to help with the children.
You know with a mix of a younger man there has to be something going on. Josh and Melanie have a affair. Melanie's husband Peter shows up and tries to win Melanie back when he learns she is pregnant.
Josh doesn't know how to deal with this. He decides to stay away. We also learn that Josh's mother commits suicide when he was a young boy. He also has a ex-girlfriend who has a lot of problems and eventually toward the end of the book she commits suicide. Josh has a lot of mixed feelings, guilt, blame etc.
Vicky's husband decides he must come to the beach house to be with the children.
Vicky continues to have her chemo while there in Nantucket. There is a point where she decides to skip the chemo, and how she deals with the guilt that she told everyone she had the chemo. For the sake of the children Vicky decides she has to continue even if she is feeling sick... Vicky loves her kids, has a hard time with seeing her children grow and she will not witness any of her children's passages.
Vicky finds out that the chemo treatment was successful but she has to have the surgery to take the rest of the cancer out of her lung. This is very tough because she is worrying and making herself sick. Taking too many pills, she self medicates herself and ends up in the hospital. Toward the end of the book it ends up picking up speed. Brenda's lover, he is Australian comes to Nantucket to support her when her sister becomes ill. Melanie decides to forgive her husband and the affair with Josh is over. Josh does not take this well. And to top if off, when Vicky's parents come when the family think Vicky is dying. Josh is left a sweet message from Vicky's husband , He did a great job taking care of the children, and he can pick up his last check. Josh has mixed feeling because one hand he was hired for pay.
The other is that he became involved in the family. Too involved that he is too attached and hurt. The story does have a happy ending. Which most books I read are literary and don't have neat packages. But this book, I liked how they were able to resolve their problems and their feelings. I felt that the author really did know how to put the feelings on paper and deal with them.
The author did a her research well. At the end she was asked to come to a support group and talk about her illness, and her surgery.
She added that she felt the the group was envious of her that she survived. But most of the group did not know if they would or wouldn't. The author did not miss a beat, with all the emotions in every situation of the book.
I really enjoyed reading this book. All the emotions I felt.
I was sad to see them leave Nantucket and go on with their lives back home.
When they were all packing up and Brenda was the last to leave.
She had to lock up the house. Even the author talked about the feelings about locking up the house and putting the tea set back where her aunt left it. It was very touching. I recommend this higly.