Publisher: William Morrow
Published: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 978-0062742674
Genre: Women’s
Fiction
Format: Print
Obtained via: Publisher
Reviewed by
name and email address: Gina myreviewbooks@aol.com
FOUR-1/2 HEARTS
Fay and Paul Agarra are on the vacation of a lifetime in
Spain. Married for over twenty years the
New York Supreme Court judge and his wife are enjoying Malaga away from the
pressures of the job, the rush of the city and all that entails. When Fay proposes a side trip to Alcazaba in
the Alhambra Paul protests but like the loving spouse he is, he agrees. Almost there Fay needs to stop to heed the
call of nature. They pull into a small
roadside business and Fay tells Paul to wait for her. When she emerges he is gone. After several panicked hours she finds him at
the airport. Paul doesn’t understand the
problem—of course he would be at the airport.
They were leaving, weren’t they?
He doesn’t remember leaving her off or that he continued on without his
wife. Fay’s irritation continues when
they return home. Paul refuses to see
what he did. In fact, he has no memory
of it. As the days go on, Fay begins to
notice other changes in his personality.
Changes that she just doesn’t like, they make her worried. Concerned, Fay turns to their family and Paul’s
co-workers but no one is willing to recognize that there is a problem. And then one night the unthinkable happens
and only now does the family and their friends realize that something is wrong,
so very wrong with Paul.
LEFT A LOVE STORY by Mary Hogan is the rare must read book for
everyone—male or female, young, middle aged or old. While told as a fiction, the subject matter—a
loved one’s descent into dementia, is something that will touch all of us at
one time or another. It will be a family
member, a close friend, a co-worker or their family member, a neighbour and
even ourselves. It doesn’t suddenly
steal our minds and connections to each other.
It is insidious, moving so slowly that you may not even be sure it is
happening. Such is Fay and Paul’s story. He a brilliant jurist, she a loving and
devoted wife who has made him her world.
Fay describes Paul as her “there kind of guy” and when he is seemingly
suddenly no longer there, her world verges on crumbling. Hogan’s depiction of Fay takes her from a
seemingly simple housewife and builds her into a strong woman, capable of
taking care of her own. She learns when
to ask for help—and how to make it happen.
She is an amazing character that shows how we all can find that special
kind of inner strength to cope with the worst life can throw at us.
I found Fay’s talking to the building a little odd. It made me
wonder if she was the one whose mind was starting to fail. The ex-wife, Brenda, was annoying. Both of these recurring threads seemed more
to up the word count than to move the story along. Had Paul loved Fay as much as she says he
does, he would have put his foot down with Brenda’s incessant incursions into
their life.
That said, LEFT A LOVE STORY is a wonderful, heartfelt story
that, as I said, everyone should read.
The book is worth a look if you are a dedicated reader.
This is an objective review and not an endorsement of
this book.
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