The Book Stacks

Isabel Gillies had a wonderful life – a wonderful, poetic husband, two lovely sons, a house she and her family had turned into a home, and a bright future ahead. When her husband accepts a job in Ohio, she leaves New York to create a new life for her family. She even ends up getting a job teaching acting at the university her husband is teaching at.

Suddenly her idyllic life is shattered when her husband announces that he is leaving her. Isabel’s life becomes a focus on fighting for what you want, loving though you’re hurting, the support of family and surviving the hard times.

Whenever you are reviewing a biographical book, there is always a niggle in the back of your mind that you are judging someone’s life, someone’s experiences. If you have anything bad to say, it’s so much easier for the author to take it personally. However, in this review, Ms. Gillies has absolutely nothing to worry about.

When I read Isabel’s biography in the back, I read that she is now living with her second husband, so I knew all along she wouldn’t be able to save her marriage. Even so, I couldn’t help but cheer for her when she fought for Josiah and feel my chest tighten when she went through times of devastation.

Isabel is such a positive, bright, honest person that you can help but trust her author’s voice as she tells her story. When you read on, you also can’t – well, I couldn’t – help but admire her as a woman with how she handles everything that is going on with her life. Just like her life, she handles the balance of description and action quite well.

This is the first book in a while that I have not wanted to put down. I even went to bed early some nights just to get in some extra reading time.

Isabel has a tendency to jump around a bit in time while she is writing which may throw some readers off. I did have a few moments where I had to pause and think about where in time I was, but I don’t think it really detracted from the book. If anything, it gave it even more of Isabel’s personality, which I have come to enjoy as a reader.

I whole-heartedly recommend this book whether you like biographies, if you’re going through a divorce, if you’ve gone through one in the past, if you’re a single more or even if you would simply like to get to know a woman with a warm heart and wonderful personality.

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