Title: Little Lovely Things
Author: Maureen Joyce Connolly
Narrator: Elisabeth Rodgers
Published: April 2019, Recorded Books
Length: 10 hours 14 minutes
Source: Publicist
Summary:
A mother’s chance decision leads to a twist of fate that is every parent’s worst nightmare.
Claire
Rawlings, mother of two and medical resident, will not let the
troubling signs of an allergic reaction prevent her from making it in
for rounds. But when Claire’s symptoms overpower her while she’s driving
into work, her two children in tow, she must pull over. Moments later
she wakes up on the floor of a gas station bathroom-her car, and her
precious girls have vanished.
The police have no leads and the
weight of guilt presses down on Claire as each hour passes with no trace
of her girls. All she has to hold on to are her strained marriage, a
potentially unreliable witness who emerges days later, and the desperate
but unquenchable belief that her daughters are out there somewhere.
Little Lovely Things
is the story of a family shattered by an unthinkable tragedy. Played
out in multiple narrative voices, the novel explores how the lives of
those affected fatefully intersect, and highlights the potential
catastrophe of the small decisions we make every day.
My thoughts: There is nothing I love more than a totally engrossing, captivating tale and that is this one to a tee! As a debut novel, author Maureen Joyce Connolly sure hit it out of the park with this one and I for sure will be waiting to see what she pens next.
This is not an easy read by any means as it tugs at every heart-string imaginable, but at the same time it is also a book that is so well-written that you cannot help but keep reading. It is every parents’ worst nightmare – having your children taken right under your nose and having to live with the consequences of the decision that put them in the position to be taken in the first place. How do you move on with that guilt, trying to search for them and not knowing what that search will bring?
The tension in this book, the pacing all were top notch. It brings up all the feelings and the characters were all so well-developed that you could not help but become totally enmeshed in this family’s drama. Having the story told from different view points really keeps you engaged and I found myself glued to the story, unable to walk away until I reached the conclusion.
I’m not a mother, but I am an aunt and if this were ever to happen to any of my nieces or nephews, I would go crazy! To not only have them taken, but then to have to go through the agony of searching when there are no clues. And then as if that’s not enough, because of the stress and tension, you realize your marriage isn’t quite as strong as you thought it was? No thank you!
This book is raw and honest. It grips you from the start and takes hold of your heart. But it’s one that try as you might, you cannot walk away from until you reach that conclusion. This book is one I won’t be forgetting anytime soon!
Audio thoughts: Elisabeth Rodgers is one of my favorite narrators and I was thrilled to see that she was narrating this book. I thought she did an outstanding job with this book – her pacing and intonation were spot on and I thought she did a great job with all the voices. I had a hard time putting this one down once I started it and ended up listening to it in huge chunks, even though there were a few times I had tears running down my face.
I read the book version, I too think that this book is so well written and so engrossing that I could not put it down. the plot and the characters are so well developed that I felt part of the action.