A poignant breakout novel, for fans of J. Courtney Sullivan and Elin Hilderbrand, about a single mother who inherits a beautiful beach house with a caveat—she must take care of the ornery elderly woman who lives in it.For years, Maggie Sheets has been an invisible hand in the glittering homes of wealthy New York City clients, scrubbing, dusting, mopping, and doing all she can to keep her head … scrubbing, dusting, mopping, and doing all she can to keep her head above water as a single mother. Everything changes when a former employer dies leaving Maggie a staggering inheritance. A house in Sag Harbor. The catch? It comes with an inhabitant: The deceased’s eighty-two-year old mother Edith.
Edith has Alzheimer’s—or so the doctors tell her—but she remembers exactly how her daughter Liza could light up a room, or bring dark clouds in her wake. And now Liza’s gone, by her own hand, and Edith has been left—like a chaise or strand of pearls—to a poorly dressed young woman with a toddler in tow.
Maggie and Edith are both certain this arrangement will be an utter disaster. But as summer days wane, a tenuous bond forms, and Edith, who feels the urgency of her diagnosis, shares a secret that she’s held close for five decades, launching Maggie on a mission that might just lead them each to what they are looking for.
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What an unusual story. The characters are charming, yet stubborn and real. It started out with everyone scared of the new life that faced them and ended with these people becoming a family and knowing what the future brings, they have someone there for them. A page turner.
I really enjoyed this book. Very easy to read life lesson you never know what life is going to deal you
I enjoyed this book.
I enjoyed this book very much. Was educational as well.
GET PAST THE FIRST CHAPTER AND THEN THE STORY DEVELOPES. NICE BOOK.
Loved, loved this book. A drama/comedy. And appreciate the realism and fun without the overload of sweetness and magicalism. And the title was perfect! Who inherits a person?! And oh my, Edith isn’t too happy about being forced into sharing her life with a single mom and her two year old daughter, Lucy.
Issues of forgiveness, loss, suicide, and Alzheimer are dealt with here but with gentle humor and the “life just presents itself sometimes…you have to move with the current…”
Nothing like an 82 year old Edith, her friend Esther, Lucy at 2 going on 30 and her mom, Maggie all just trying to survive life with a sense of purpose and humor.
Lucy asking her mom why she is putting on a bra on is hilarious, especially when she asks if she needs a “bwa” also. And Edith upset about her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s realizes it’s ok if they announce her name loudly at the neurologist as “who’s going to remember”.
The memories of parents and raising children and the guilt we put on ourselves and our parents are all brought up …but without shouting…..just honest reflections.
This is not a downer of a book at all, more like a soft hug from friends in a room full of light and laughter and wine.