Realities - Marian D. Schwartz

"The book is by turns humorous, witty, moving, upbeat. Jenny is a warm, sensitive heroine. It's a pleasure to watch her and a privilege to eavesdrop on her thoughts. Highly recommended..." LIBRARY JOURNAL

Jenny Weaver is smart and funny and so lonely it hurts.

Jenny and Richard Weaver were going to live happily ever after. Then Richard took his life. 

A year after Richard's death, Jenny impulsively moves from the Northeast to California with their two young children. The children adjust to the move, but she can't seem to find her way. And the children keep asking, "How-and-why did Daddy die?" She doesn't know what to say to them.

In a moment of deep frustration and loneliness, she begins writing to Richard, telling him about her daily life. She holds nothing back, even telling him when she begins a new romance. 

Jenny also writes about the past. She vividly recalls their marriage and family life, and begins to see how it went wrong. As she gets closer to the truth and the past becomes threatening, she decides not to write to him anymore. But she finds it impossible to stop.

The answer to their children's questions is in the past. Can she find a path to healing?

In this intimate, compelling novel, a young widow discovers her own strength and identity after the devastating loss of her husband. Realities was a selection of the Swedish Book-of-the-Month Club.