Friday, February 6, 2015

Beginning ~ with advice from a columnist

The Breakdown Lane ~ by Jacquelyn Mitchard, 2005, fiction (Wisconsin)
Dear J, I'm getting married next summer, to a man of another nationality.  Both families are very happy, but there is a problem.
Those opening lines are intriguing, making me want to know about the problem and what the advice columnist will say.  Here's the book description:
Giving advice is what Julieanne does for a living — every Sunday she doles it out to clueless people she doesn't know, in a column in her local Wisconsin paper.  But when it comes to her personal life, Julie herself seems to have missed some clues.  Having worked creatively to keep her twenty-year marriage to Leo fresh and exciting, she is completely caught off guard when he tells her he needs to go on a "sabbatical" from their life together, leaving Julie and their three children — Gabe, Caroline, and Aury — behind.  But it soon becomes clear that his leave of absence is meant to be permanent.  The succeeding months are filled with a confusion and sadness that shake the core of the entire family.  Things take a turn for the worse when Julie is diagnosed with a serious illness and the children undertake a dangerous journey to find Leo — before it's too late.


Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.  Click here for today's Mister Linky.

7 comments:

Page said...

Hmmm. This one sounds interesting. I too, want to see what kind of response she gives... I also wonder what really cause the husband to vamoose.

Hope you can check out my BB/56

Cheers,
Page @ Never Enough Shelf Space

Juli Rahel said...

Oh wow, this sounds like a really intense read. Initially I thought it was funny because I always think advice columns are hilarious and my name is Juliane and I thought about myself running a column. But then it turned really sad. I think I'd have to read a bit more before knowing whether I want to plunge into this one! Thanks for sharing :) I hope you have a great weekend!
My Friday post
Juli @ Universe in Words

sherry fundin said...

Uh oh, I wonder what the problem is...
sherry @ fundinmental Friday Memes

Katherine P said...

This sounds interesting! I love advice columns so this sounds like a unique premise.

Sandra Nachlinger said...

This sounds like the kind of story I adore. Something about surprising life-altering events and the way characters react to them always appeals to me. I'll look for this one.
My Friday post features ROSE’S GIFT.

Elizabeth said...

Love the cover.

Sounds great. I miss the Dear Abby columns. :) Or do we still have them and I haven't noticed?

Interesting to find out what the problem is.

ENJOY, and thanks for sharing.

Elizabeth
Silver's Reviews
My Book Beginnings

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Elizabeth, "Dear Abby" IS still being published. I found it online for you:
http://news.yahoo.com/dear-abby/