Jeanne Bridgeton, an unmarried executive in her late forties, discovers life doesn’t begin and end on a spreadsheet when her expected menopause instead becomes an unexpected pregnancy. Though accomplished at managing risk professionally, Jeanne realizes her skills don’t extend to her personal life, where she has allowed the professional and the personal to become intertwined. She’s not even sure … sure which of two men in her life is the father. Worse yet, a previously undisclosed family secret reveals that she may carry a rare hereditary gene for early-onset Alzheimer’s—and it’s too late to get genetic tests. This leaves Jeanne to cope with her intense fear of risk without the aid of the mountain of data she’s accustomed to relying upon. Wrestling with the question of whether her own needs, or those of her child, should prevail takes Jeanne on an intensely emotional journey—one that ultimately leads to growth and enlightenment.
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This story held quite a few twists and turns…the characters were not necessarily well-liked but well developed. I enjoyed the way the story unfolded…definitely worth the read!
An original story. The lead character was very well developed and the reader could easily relate to the difficult decisions she was facing. Intospective.
Tthought provocating. Well written.
A good novel evokes feelings and thoughts, but a great novel also teaches you something.
Author Joan Cohen addresses Alzheimer’s in The Land of Last Chances, and upon completing this novel, I feel better informed. Although I’m familiar with the characteristic of this progressive disease I really didn’t understand why and how it happens. A lesson learned for me in this well written story with characters that are forced to face some of life’s complex situations… and a dog we all could love.
I liked the basic story but found there was a little too much time wasted on “office people”and found the main character a bit unrealistic.
I usually don’t finish a book if I don’t like the protagonist, but I made an exception here. While I did not agree with her choices or reasoning, Maggie and the dogs kept me going! Gotta love a big yellow ball of fur!
Read Land of Last Chances first chance you get!
Land of Last Chances (She Writes Press) by Joan Cohen may be a novel, but it’s about real-life situations. Drawing from some of her own personal and professional experiences, Ms. Cohen crafts a complex and fast-paced story that forces us to examine our own values and beliefs.
While the reader journeys into the mind of forty-eight-year-old, single, marketing executive Jeanne Bridgeton and sees her world view unravel, our own philosophy and principles are challenged with each turn of the page.
What if we discovered family secrets that could directly impact our present as well as our future health and well-being? What if our work environment and career weren’t as secure as we thought? What if the people we counted on had secrets of their own? What if every aspect of our life exploded in a nanosecond?
What would we do…if…?
Further, this is a story of discovery. Both literally and figuratively. After discovering she’s pregnant, Jeanne unpacks a box her late mother had left behind. Symbolically, the carton becomes her own Pandora’s box, leading her to fear her life and that of her unborn child may be in danger.
With each unforeseen turn of events, Jeanne constructs a risk/benefit analysis, attempting to make the absolute right decisions. Though she’d like to, Jeanne cannot control everything. She learns that sometimes life throws us more than one curveball at a time. When that happens the best decision could be a mac and cheese casserole.
Though Ms. Cohen sprinkles light-hearted moments and colorful secondary characters, she tackles the agony and impact Alzheimer’s has on its victims and their descendants with compassionate consideration. Land of Last Chances is always relevant, often poignant, and sometimes heartbreaking. Did I mention the golden retriever?
Because this story deals with real-life issues, it’ll surely linger longer than most novels do, as we instinctively put ourselves in Jeanne Bridgeton’s place. I keep asking myself: What if she didn’t open the box?