Review: Left by Tamar Ossowski

Left by Tamar Ossowski

Publisher: 

Pages: 240

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Therese Wolley is a mother who has made a promise. She works as a secretary, shops for groceries on Saturdays, and takes care of her two girls. She doesn’t dwell on the fact that her girls are fatherless, mostly because her own father abandoned her before she was born and she has done just fine without him.  Even though her older daughter regularly wakes with nightmares and her younger one whispers letters under her breath, she doesn’t shift from her resolve that everything will be fine. She promises . . . and they believe.

Until the morning an obituary in the newspaper changes everything. Therese immediately knows what she has to do. She cannot delay what she has planned, and she cannot find the words to explain her heartbreaking decision to her daughters. She considers her responsibilities, her girls, and her promise. Then she does the only thing that any real mother would do. She goes on the run with one daughter . . . and abandons the other.

Kritters Thoughts:  Two little girls have known the company of only each other and right into this book they must learn to live without the other as a safeguard.  Through the story you learn the real story about how they became sisters.

Told through three different characters points of view - the mother, Therese; the older daughter, Matilda; and the young daughter Franny - they each contribute an unique view into the story of these women.  Therese's story is told straight from the past and gives the reader the background knowledge they need, while both Franny and Matilda are telling the current story of their separation and how each are coping without the other.  

Unfortunately the men in this book did not get a good deal - they were all told in a pretty negative light and each had issues keeping it together.  I think I would have enjoyed at least one male character showing how to be a respectable family man, would have balanced out the negativity from the rest of the men folk.  

This book was different and interesting, although definitely hard to read.  There were a few times where I wish Therese had told more of the past and maybe didn't keep me guessing as much!

Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Ebook 2014  Challenge: 12 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Edelweiss.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.