The Winters in Bloom
By Lisa Tucker
(Atria Books, Hardcover, 9781416575405, September 2011, 288pp.)

The Short of It:

I opened the book and fell right in.

The Rest of It:

Kyra and David are happily married, have a nice home and have stable careers. They live with their son Michael and things could not be more perfect. But in the back of their minds, because of decisions they made in the past, they expect tragedy at every turn and it hits when Michael suddenly vanishes from their backyard.

This is really an amazing book. I know it’s gotten some mixed reviews but if you enjoy dysfunction, let me tell you…this family is about as dysfunctional as you can get. The characters are beautifully flawed and vulnerable. These people have secrets. Secrets that have eaten away at them for years and years. They are burdened with guilt, filled with resentment and yearning for normalcy. Tucker does an amazing job of creating an angst ridden novel without making it depressing. In fact, it’s quite hopeful and I found myself cheering for this family and wanting things to end well for them.

This was my first Lisa Tucker novel. In the past, I avoided her books because they seemed a tad light for me, but this one had plenty of meat on its bones and left me thinking about it long after I finished reading it. All I had to do was open the book, read the first page and immediately I was sucked in. I read this with another blogger and she felt the same way!

Source: Borrowed
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