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Book Reviewed by:Never Coming Back is a brilliant and piercing story of a young woman finding her way in life, determined to know her mother - and by extension herself - before it's too late.
When Clara Winter left her rural Adirondacks town for college, she never looked back. Her mother, Tamar, a loving but fiercely independent woman who raised Clara on her own, all but pushed her out the door, and so Clara built a new life for herself, far from her roots and the world she had always known.
Now more than a decade has passed, and Clara, a successful writer, has been summoned home. Tamar has become increasingly forgetful, and can no longer live on her own. But just as her mother's memory is declining, Clara's questions are building. Why was Tamar so insistent that Clara leave, all those years ago? Just what secrets was she hiding?
The surprising answers Clara uncovers are rooted in her mother's love for her, and the sacrifices Tamar made to protect her. And in being released from her past - though now surrounded by friends from it - Clara can finally look forward to the future.
This was the best book that I have read this year. I had tears streaming down my face more than once. Alison McGhee just "gets" the whole mother/daughter dynamic and has been able to put it down on paper without being overly cynical or overly sweet...continued
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(Reviewed by First Impressions Reviewers).
Alison McGhee tells her story in Never Coming Back against the backdrop of the wildly varied ecosystems of New York State's Adirondack Region, located in the most northern part of the state close to the borders of Canada and Vermont.
The Adirondacks cover an area of more than six million acres - a roughly circular area about 160 miles in diameter. It is the largest protected natural area in the lower 48 States.
In the Mohawk language, Adirondack means porcupine. The area contains over 100 mountains and about 3000 lakes and ponds. It has been settled for at least 12,000 years and, today, boasts more than 2000 miles of hiking trails.
Biking, hiking, fishing, canoeing and kayaking are some of the many outdoors activities that draw people ...
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Chris Bohjalian, bestselling author of The Sleepwalker, Midwives, and The Sandcastle Girls
Never Coming Back is a deeply moving exploration of growing up and growing old, and the ties that bind parents and children – and the mysteries that sometimes keep us apart.
