“This is an eye-opening and realistic exploration of mental illness—a topic that greatly deserves to be front and center.” —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Small Great ThingsMetal artist Katie Mack is living a lie. Nine years ago she ran away from her family in Raleigh, North Carolina, consumed by the irrational fear that she would harm Maisie, her newborn daughter. Over time … her newborn daughter. Over time she’s come to grips with the mental illness that nearly destroyed her, and now funnels her pain into her art. Despite longing for Maisie, Katie honors an agreement with the husband she left behind—to change her name and never return.
But when she and Maisie accidentally reunite, Katie can’t ignore the familiarity of her child’s compulsive behavior. Worse, Maisie worries obsessively about bad things happening to her pregnant stepmom. Katie has the power to help, but can she reconnect with the family she abandoned?
To protect Maisie, Katie must face the fears that drove her from home, accept the possibility of love, and risk exposing her heart-wrenching secret.
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Mental illness is the most insidious and hidden problem families face. Barbara Claypoole White brings it out in the open with this gut-wrenching, yet tender story. Jodi Picoult says it best.
“This is an eye-opening and realistic exploration of mental illness—a topic that greatly deserves to be front and center.” —Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Small Great Things
Rebecca Rosenberg
THE SECRET LIFE OF MRS. LONDON
GOLD DIGGER, the remarkable Baby Doe Tabor
Touching story
The believable, complicated characters at the heart of this novel feel like real people–so much that you can’t help rooting for them as they struggle with depression and other challenges. But this is not a “depressing” book–on the contrary, it’s inspiring and life-affirming. It’s the kind of book you finish with a satisfied sigh, and the feeling you’re saying goodbye to people you care about.
What a phenomenal story! The Promise Between Us is a beautifully written story about a mental health disorder, specifically OCD. It describes the heartache, pain, and suffering of those afflicted and family members who struggle to understand this terrifying disorder. This story is also about forgiveness, and with forgiveness, there is hope, which strengthens with the love of a family who never gives up.
I read this book in one sitting…it’s that good. The characters are complex, the storyline is intriguing, and the subplots add layers of depth that pulls you deeper into these characters’ lives. This is such an engaging read. However, the best part of reading this story is how the author successfully gives voice to a mental health disorder that is often misunderstood and maligned. After reading this book, I definitely have a more comprehensive understanding of OCD thanks to this very realistically written story. Very highly recommended!
What a book! My second BCW read and it will not be my last.
In this novel, Ms. White tackles some tough subject matter and delves into the different areas of OCD. I was unaware that it can take many forms stemming from different triggers. The characters in this book are well developed and all have their own issues, from the OCD (passed down through generations), sexual abuse, anxiety, problems treatment available etc. I fell in love with Maisie, her real mom, Katie, her step mom, Lilah, her dad Callum and Uncle J. I was rooting for them all to overcome their struggles with each other and within themselves.
Katie fled her family, abandoning her baby girl Maisie when she thought the “little voice in her head” was going to lead to her harming her baby. Callum, her now ex husband, had no idea how to help her and get her back. All the while he was struggling with past abuse and anxiety that he was hiding from everyone. After Katies departure, Cal decides to tell Maisie her real mom has passed away and moves on and is married to Lilah, who is pregnant with their child. Maisie begins to hear the “voice” inside her, questioning her thoughts, actions. The voice that tells her that Lilah is going to die, the baby is going to die and it is all her fault. Maisie, Lilah, Cal and Uncle J have no idea this is OCD. Maisie begins a docent program at CAM and ends up face to face with her real mother, a welder. Katie struggles with this, and the voices in her head that keep telling her she is going to harm her little girl, while trying not to let on that she is her real mother. The characters grow and develop and the truth eventually comes out changing all their lives for the better.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read and the opportunity to learn know about this mental illness, not often talked about enough.
When I was a little girl I sometimes allowed my imagination to take me to dark places. Movies would run through my head after a thought like, “What would happen if Mom and Dad died?” I learned to push aside these ‘what ifs’ as I grew older.
But….what if…someone never was able to control these thoughts. What if they took over one’s life, incessant and intrusive, so that with every moment one was confronted with the possibility of doom.
Barbara Claypole White’s new book The Promise Between Us peels back the reality of people who live with the crippling ‘what ifs’. Her character Katie has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. A knife sends her into panic: what if she harmed someone with it? What if she killed with it? Before she was diagnosed and treated she abandoned her beloved husband and their child to save them from the acts she envisioned she might commit that would bring them harm.
Years later Katie unexpectedly finds her daughter Maisie in her life and recognizes the early symptoms of OCD. Somehow she must intervene and help her daughter before her life becomes the horror she knows so well. The complication is that Maisie believed that her mother had died.
Readers have loved this book, especially impressed by how White brings Katie’s disease to life. We hear the internal dialoge of OCD and are shown how Katie self-talks to control it.
Along the journey we learn the tragic back stories of Katie as well as that of her husband and his best friend. Broken hearts and romance will be found in these pages.
The secondary story of the husband’s PTSD, for me, was a bit too much for a book already brimming with broken people. The repetition of Katie’s internal voices and the talk about how her daughter can control her thoughts took up a lot of space and slowed the story.
But who can blame White? In her Backstory page found here, we learn she is intimately knowledgeable about her subject matter. Her husband and their son has OCD. I commend the author for bringing understanding and insight. We are all better for it.
Readers will be propelled by the well-drawn characters and will adore Maisie. Book clubs can find lots to discuss with the help of the Reading Group Guide found here.
I received a free ebook from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
I admit it; I’m a sucker for a story about hope. Throw in some gritty truths that make me squirm, a series of impossible choices, and a healthy dose of uncommon bravery, and I’m in positive reading heaven. Lucky for me, Barbara Claypole White pulls this off brilliantly with The Promise Between Us. In this important and beautifully written story, the curtain is lifted on the day-to-day trials of grappling with mental illness and crippling personal histories. It’s not always pretty. In fact, it seldom is, but with her usual care and passion for the subject, White shows us that with enough truth, resilience, and a great support systems, hope is always within reach. Thank you, Barbara for this beautiful, beautiful book!
“Perfection stops you from enjoying the work of what is.”
Wow! This is a fantabulous book!
An amazing,insightful novel that will have you picking your fingernails, laughing, crying and thinking “ OCD is a beast!”
Katie did the absolute worst thing a parent would do. Abandoning her daughter Maisie, as an infant. Why? The voices basically tell her “ I am the worst Mother. You are not worthy of having this precious gift.”
She resurfaces back into her family’s life, quite by accident, 9 years later and realizes when she meets Maisie, that Maisie has inherited this beast and needs help quickly .
The world as Katie knew it, has changed, but she is learning to channel and squash the nasty thoughts to find a way to help her beautiful Maisie, and in the process,work to gain the love and trust of people she never thought she would face again.
“Today she has found a different kind of faith: faith in herself.”
A 10 star book, that will eat at you for days until you finish it. The character’s are so real and I would love to reconnect with them in a few years and see how their lives are playing out.
4.5
This book is so close to a 5 star! It was so well written that I had a very hard time rating it and I kept debating the rating in my head. The author made you really get to know the characters, some you just loved, others not so much. It was possible to like and disliked them at the same time, much like our own families. The story line certainly kept me interested. Barbara Claypole White takes you into the mind of someone with OCD, and that for me that is a very tiring place to be. It’s very hard to be inside the head of someone who is mentally ill. But at some point I just wanted to just say ok, I get it, lets get on with the story. And obviously from all the 5 star ratings there are a lot of readers who didn’t feel this way. Somewhere about 70% of the way thru I just started to skim over the lines where the OCD was talking because I already knew what it was saying. This book is so very, very close to a 5 star rating, there were so many things I liked about this book but I just felt that if I was skimming, can I really give it a 5 star? What I can say is that I will definitely read another of her books. She is really a very good author.
Favorite Quotes:
You might have been blinded by love and lust, but Katelyn was always wound tighter than a dollar store watch.
How did this happen? Two PhDs between them, and they couldn’t figure out contraception.
I’m a welder who works in a helmet decorated with Power Girl stickers.
Why were these horrid thoughts taking up a whole room in her brain? No, multiple rooms!
Still as predictable as ever. Takes a small pair of balls to intimidate a small woman.
‘’Cause I feel as if I’ve been skinny-dipping with snapping turtles. And oh, Lordy’—he tossed out an expression that reminded her of Robin Williams playing Mrs. Doubtfire—‘you know how much I value my body parts.’
Delaney had once complained that it was impossible to make Patrick jealous, but the look he gave Jake was, surely, reserved for muggers of little old ladies.
My Review:
This book should be required reading for all medical and psychological graduate students and interns. Written from five viewpoints The Promise Between Us was smartly written and endlessly fascinating, yet surprisingly easy to follow. I was quickly mesmerized and completely embedded within the craniums of these peculiar and cringe-worthy characters and have yet to fully resurface. I have a strong suspicion that these singularly unique yet fully formed individuals will be residing with me for quite some time. The storyline was tragic and heartbreaking, the characters were deeply flawed, fractured, and somewhat repellent, yet oddly compelling and endearing for their efforts. But the writing, oh the writing, it was stellar, superb, well-crafted, tantalizing, heartrending, poignant, painfully insightful, sharply honed, and exquisitely observant with unexpected yet perfectly pitched twists of levity, primarily from the most under-appreciated characters. I adore this author and would worship at an altar laden with her works.