A simple phone call disrupts Nell Williams’s well-ordered life. Her mother, Mary, is in a hospital in Vermont. But her mother is supposed to be safely tucked away in an assisted-living facility in Massachusetts, so Nell can’t fathom why she would be so far from home.After notifying her sister, Bridget, Nell hops on a plane and rushes to her mother’s side. There, she discovers that her mother has … discovers that her mother has been living a second life. Mary has another home and a set of complex relationships with people her daughters have never met.
When Nell and Bridget delve deeper into their mother’s lakeside hideaway, they uncover a vault of family secrets and the gateway to change for all three women.
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Nell Williams finally has it figured out. “Life is short. Be happy.” But she didn’t always realize this.
One day she receives a phone call telling her that her mother is in a hospital in Vermont. What? Her mom lives in an assisted living facility in Massachusetts. What is she doing in Vermont? Nell calls her sister Bridget and then drops everything and rushes to the hospital. Thus begins the unraveling of the secrets their mother has kept from them their entire lives. Complicated relationships are finally revealed.
Three remarkable women – extraordinary family ties. An ever popular theme of mother-daughter(s) bonds. The lengths mothers will go to in order to protect their children. Redemption. Children realizing their mother had a life before them. All themes we can relate to. Believable and lovable characters.
I highly recommend this loving story. The sequel is highly anticipated.
Nell and Bridget only think they know their Mother. The secrets they find out about their family brings them closer together, the mystery of their family is a good one.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though I usually read romance. This was a wonderful women’s fiction book that delved into family, secrets and the fragile yet strong bonds that are often complicated and protected by secrets. I highly recommend this book
fun story.
This was a wonderful book. It helped me understand my mothers choice to leave my father after 28 years of marriage. My mother’s story is different, however it put a different light on things for me. I loved the twists and turns and the characters.
Enjoyed this book. Real people and a bit different.
Extremely informative regarding TB and the treatments, woven in with sweet relationships between the patients.
What a great story. I loved this book.
This book was fantastic. It’s been a while since a book has made me not want to put it down, but this one did. I hated to see it end. I’m glad to hear there’s going to be a sequel!
I liked the book/story line. One does what MUST do when life becomes overwhelming in certain situations.
Wonderful book!
I had to read this book in one sitting. Unique story line.
The Taste of Air is the second novel by Gail Cleare. In this novel I saw shades of two of my very favorite stories, The Beach House by Mary Alice Monroe and The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller. Nell Williams is blindsided when she receives a call from the hospital in Hartland, Vermont, telling her that her mother, Mary Sullivan, has been admitted to their ICU and has asked them to contact Nell. Inasmuch as her mother is supposed to be at a senior living facility at Marblehead, Nell doesn’t know what to make of this.
After making arrangements with her husband, David, for their two kids, Nell gets reservations to fly to Vermont to help her mother. Her older sister, Bridget, will join her from the DC area soon to help out. But first it is up to Nell to determine what has happened to their mother.
Upon her arrival in Hartland, Nell goes straight to the hospital. Once she has seen her mother, gotten a few details, and her mother has again drifted off to sleep, Nell asks the attendants where she can find lodging. They show surprise and ask her if she doesn’t want to stay in her mother’s home? Until now, Nell had no idea her mom had a residence there, let alone a circle of friends.
As Nell probes deeper and makes the acquaintance of several town residents, she discovers a life her mother led previously unknown to the sisters. And when Nell and Bridget piece the puzzle together, they find a future they had not known existed.
Out of sadness comes a future the sisters had no idea could exist. In a beautiful story of love and the sacrifices made in its name. Mary Ellen Sullivan had shown much love in her lifetime and this story shows the rewards that she has showered upon her girls.
This was a very moving story that I thoroughly enjoyed. I wholeheartedly recommend this novel!
Kept me guessing! Good story with engaging characters.
Book Review: The Taste of Air by author, Gail Cleare
One phone call, and your life turns around instantly.
Family drama doesn’t always mean what you think it does, or does it. I was completely impressed and immersed by these characters that were so wonderfully, and carefully, crafted. Secrets and revelations and the consequences due to choices, even with the best of intentions, come to light and play out consistently throughout this story’s pages and will keep you wanting more.
This novel delivers it all; it’s engaging, believable, heart warming and captivating. My only wish is that the story continued on, as I was sad to see it end. A wonderful read that you’re sure to enjoy…..
Thank you once again to Gail Cleare, as well as, Red Adept Publishing and NetGalley for bringing this story to light for me, and so many others.
5 Stars
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Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy, this is my honest opinion.
I just now finished this book and what a wonderful read! A well written and absorbing contemporary story about a mother’s secret and how a significant decision made in her early adulthood made one couple very happy and and went on to multiply the love in her own children’s lives after her death. No spoilers, just read this lovely book. It will leave you feeling very peaceful and positive as it did me. A true pleasure. Strongly recommended.
A great read about family life and how one woman managed to save her marriage and herself.
I have to thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for letting me read this book in exchange for my unbiased review.
This is one of those books you won’t be able to put down unless something beyond your control happens. It starts out interesting and just gets better and better until the final beautiful page. It’s got so much in it but not hard to follow at all. About a family, the Vietnam war in places, children, parents and children. Extended families and beautiful towns. Some tragedies along the way too but it’s so worth reading.
Mary(Ellie) has two daughters who she loves beyond words. She would do anything for them that she can. Thomas, their dad got Alzheimer’s and Mary took care of him until he died. She had met him before they both were sipped overseas during the Vietnam war. Her a nurse, him a pilot. They were engaged to be married. Mary/Ellie becomes friends with an ambulance driver, Jake. They share time together and see some pretty awful things. One thing I liked about this story is it did not go into bad gruesome details of bloody and hurt soldiers or the horrors they faced when they came home. Although it did happen. It’s good to read about some of the pleasant things even though they were most likely few and far between. Jake and Mary were the best of friends and eventually Mary became best friends with Jake’s wife Jennie.
Mary had many secrets that her daughters would uncover in her cottage in Vermont. She had a completely separate life there from the one at home or in the assisted living facility in Massachusetts where she was suppose to be. Nell and Bridget learned a lot about their mother that they never knew. They got to know themselves much better along the way also. They uncovered some secrets that their mother kept from them and learned why. Everyone possible has some secrets they would like to keep but in Mary’s case it helped her daughter to move forward learning who and what their mom was and had done. She was a wonderful lady in my opinion and in theirs too.
This truly is a wonderful story that will touch your heart in so many ways. Make you feel like taking time for yourself is ok and a must sometimes. I throughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. It was so heartwarming, beautiful and touching. I cried, laughed, cringed a bit, while reading this one. It’s a good must read for anyone who loves a story that will unfold chapter by chapter. It is told from Mary/Ellie, Nell and Bridget’s lives. Not in the least hard to follow. It will leave you feeling happy. It did me.
I loved it and gave it a big 5 stars. Well written, great characters and beautiful scenery.
I really enjoyed this book. The characters were very real and had very mixed qualities. I had a very hard time putting it down. Very interesting relationships and how different people relate to each other. Certainly makes you look at decisions you make and how they can effect your whole life and then the lives of others. Highly recommend this book.
What a great book. A story revealing to two sisters, a secret like their mother had been living for their entire lives. It comes to light when the mother is hospitalized in a town unknown to them, while they believed she was living in an assisted home facility.