For Patricia Curren, the summer of 1978 begins with a devastating discovery: an unfamiliar black pearl button in the bed she shares with her controlling husband, Jack. Seeking the courage to end her desolate marriage, Patricia spends a quiet summer alone on beautiful Kiawah Island. But when she meets Terry Sloan, a collegiate tennis player trying to go pro, their physical attraction sparks a slow … slow burn toward obsession.
Once Patricia and Terry share closely guarded secrets from their pasts, they want more than a summer together. But their love soon fractures, as a potential sponsor takes an unusually keen interest in Terry—both on court and off. And when single, career-driven Lynn Hewitt arrives, other secrets must surface, including the one Patricia has kept from Terry all summer.
An intimate portrait of the folly of the human heart, Breaking and Holding explores buried truths that are startlingly unveiled. What’s left in their wake has the power not only to shatter lives…but to redeem them.
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A black pearl button, a divorce, and a possible new romance weave a story of guarded secrets. As Patricia Curren tries to live her life with a career driven focus the untimely interest from her tennis sponsor attempts to upend all her efforts to hide powerful confidential knowledge that will surely change the course of her life.
“I thought of Tricia and Terry. Of faults and double faults. Of breaking and holding. I thought of unlikely love. Forbidden and obsessive. Impossible but unshakeable. Dreamlike and cheek-touch real.” These are the words that sum up Judy Fogarty’s debut novel, BREAKING AND HOLDING.
The story begins in 1978. Twenty-six-year-old Tricia is married to Jack, her forty-nine-year-old controlling and demanding husband who is the CEO of his company, The Curren Company, or TCC. Tricia is so unhappy and is seeking to leave Jack. Enter Terry Sloan, the twenty-three-year-old collegiate tennis player who would give anything to turn professional who she meets on Kiawah Island in South Carolina after deciding to spend the summer there without Jack. The attraction is instant, and a tumultuous love affair begins. However, they both have their own demons and insecurities and share past secrets. The bond forms between them, and Tricia is determined to become stronger and finally leave Jack.
Then there’s Lynn, the narrator in the story. She works with Jack, and she’s determined to climb the ladder in his company, but she’s sleeping with him – unbeknownst to Tricia. Then Tricia finds a black pearl button in the bed she shares with Jack. She’s on to him, but never suspects Lynn. Tricia and Lynn have a good friendship, but Lynn is betraying her. The story just keeps getting better and better.
Nona, an extremely wealthy woman who is interested in becoming Terry’s sponsor, gives him strict instructions and ultimatums so that he doesn’t muck up his sponsorship. But Nona is one whacked out woman who I just wanted to smack. Terry’s mom, real dad and good friend, Baze, also add to the story.
Lies, deceit, passion, troubled lives, insecurities, and alcoholism all play a role in this story. As messed up as they are, Fogarty manages to bring the characters’ lives full circle and leads them to better paths. Tricia divorces Jack, goes back to school, gets her PhD and gets a good job. Terry manages his alcoholism, his obsessive behavior toward Tricia and the abusive childhood caused by his mother and the insecurities she caused him. He also cleans up his act and plays tennis with the pros of the day. Even though Jack is a controlling dude who makes life miserable for Tricia, he remarries and has twins after she divorces him. Lynn is the most level-headed character, even though she was lying to Tricia and Jack. After some self-preservation, she manages to clean herself up too, gets a new job and a possible new love interest.
This is a story of raw emotion, obsession and power. I was so riveted, I didn’t know which way it was going to go at times. There are so many twists and turns. It’s up, it’s down, it’s two steps forward, and one step back. All-in-all, I’ve never read a story quite like this, but found it very interesting. I thought to myself that if a debut novel can be this good, what will Fogarty produce next? She brought back so many things I remembered from the late ‘70’s to the early ‘80’s, even songs of the day that I had forgotten about. Fogarty is one hell of a writer and extremely talented, and I can’t wait to see what she has up her sleeve. Read it, go down memory lane, enjoy the ride and a great story.