Firefly Lane, Kristin Hannah

Firefly Lane, Kristin Hannah

My daughter has been telling me that she has heard so many good things about the author Kristin Hannah and her books, so I have been picking them up in my thrifting adventures. This is the first one to resurface in my TBR pile.

This is the story of two girls the same age, in the Snowqualmie or Snohomish Washington area (outside Seattle), I can't remember now which. But they are as different as night and day, one coming from a down to earth traditional family, and the other a lone child living with her drugged out, hippie mother.

The story shows how they became friends and spans decades of their friendships and relationships. One becomes spectacular as a journalist and talk show host, while the other becomes spectacularly ordinary in the eyes of the world, choosing family and motherhood over her aspirations to be a writer. Yet despite their different lifestyles, they remain friends until that one fateful day...

It kind of reminds me of Beaches. I saw the movie but I haven't read the book.

SPOILER ALERT

If you haven't read it, then don't read any farther as this next part contains a SPOILER

The last part of this book was not easy for me to read. A character in the book, I won't say who, but they end up with cancer, and it shows the terror of finding out and receiving a death sentence, and the eventuality of their demise and how it affects their loved ones as well as their own outlook on life.

The reason why this is so hard for me is because it was like reading what happened to my sister, Cathy, who had Ewing Sarcoma, a cancer for which there is NO hope of recovery. It was terrifying the thought of losing my sister, and to try to do all I could to help her, to pray for her, and watch her life and health destruct before us, completely helpless to do anything but let her know we were there and would always love her. It's a hard thing for me to relive, which is why I still steer clear of books and movies that I know touch on this.

However, I know the author added this to the book because it's how her mother passed, and it affected her so greatly, she wanted to write about it to make people aware of the specific type of cancer she died from. It was her way of trying to make some good come out of it and I commend her for it.