COMING UP FOR AIR is the eighth novel by Patti Callahan Henry. It’s the story of a daughter’s hope for a new future while exploring her mother’s secret past. It’s told in the familiar style of deep Southern Women fiction novelists that will remind readers of Anne Rivers Siddons and Mary Kay Andrews.
Forty-something Ellie Calvin’s life changes when her controlling mother unexpectedly passes away. It gives her pause to closely look at her life and the growing distance in her marriage to husband, Rusty and she realizes their relationship is dying. It’s at this time her ex-boyfriend from high-school Hutch resurfaces who had secretly been working with her mother on a documentary for the Atlanta History Center and now needs Ellie’s help. He’d unknowingly been working with her mother on the project to celebrate Atlanta’s Women of the year during the 1960s. They are shocked to discover a secret diary that reveals her mother’s involvement with the civil rights movement.
Ellie surprises the controlling and manipulative men, including her husband and father who expect her to be at their beck and call while she’s working to sort out her grief and other emotions by leaving Atlanta. For the first time in her life, Ellie decides to take time for herself and isn’t completely happy with what she finds. She leaves her home in Atlanta for the house of her mother’s best friend, Miss Birdie on the coast of Alabama which is known to reveal mysteries and change lives. The more she delves into her mother’s secret past, she discovers a life that is surprisingly like her own.
COMING UP FOR AIR is a beautiful story. Patti Callahan Henry uses her gift as a writer to manipulate words so her main character, Ellie Calvin may also, as a painter, take broad strokes as an artist in order to capture the tranquility of the landscape. Grab a cup of tea or coffee, a few yummy cookies and settle into your favorite comfy chair for a nice relaxing read. Patti Callahan Henry has written just the novel for you.
Thanks to Patti for the book in exchange for an honest review.
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1 comment:
I loved this book so much that I invited Patti to be my guest author for April of 2013 for the whole month at B&N.com General Fiction forum
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Fiction-General-Discussion/2013-Featured-Reads-by-Month/m-p/1310383#U1310383
Great review
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