This book is about Tess, the wayward daughter who shows up at her parents pregnant. Nora does not seem to be at all
accepting towards her daughter. Tess takes off after having her baby, leaving her (Tansy) for her parents to raise. It
turns out that Nora doesn't disapprove of her daughter. She is suffering from her own trauma of having an abortion many
years ago.
I thought this was a very good book overall. I loved the reconciliation theme towards the end with Tess, and admire Tess for her decision to chose life for her unborn baby. I liked the character of Ben and how he seemed to be there for Tess.
At times, some of the dialog seemed a little stilted. The only other thing that I didn't like was that nobody seemed to like
Tess. Nora didn't seem to like Tess, Creede was annoyed with Tess, Creede's father was disapproving of Tess, and the church
ladies were disapproving of Tess. Yeah, Ben stood up for her, but it seemed that everyone was too hard on her. It would
have been nice to see someone reaching out to Tess, to help her go in the right direction but in a loving manner.
The book also mentioned something about Nora discovering the truth about herself and her abortion. I didn't really seem to
grasp what that truth was. Was it guilt? Was she disapproving of Tess because of the guilt over her own abortion? This
part seemed rushed towards the end.
Bedford interwove her own abortion experience into the book, so she knows what a woman who has had an abortion goes through.
Overall, I enjoyed the book.