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Summary
Summary
The bestselling author ofThe Day I Ate Whatever I WantedandThe Year of Pleasuresreturns with a wonderful novel about a woman, a daughter, and a surprising change in life Beloved author Elizabeth Berg tells the story of the recently widowed Helen Ames and of her twenty-seven-year-old daughter Tessa. Helen is shocked to discover that her mild-mannered and loyal husband had been leading a double life. The Ames's had saved money for a happy retirement, planned in minute detail, but that money has disappeared in several big withdrawals--spent by Helen's husband before he died. What could he possibly have been doing? And what is Helen to do now? Why does Helen's daughter object to her mother's applying for a job--and why doesn't Tessa meet a nice man and get married? What Helen's husband did with all their money turns out to be provocative, revelatory--and leads Helen and her daughter to embark on new adventures, and change. From the Hardcover edition.
Author Notes
Elizabeth Berg was born December 2, 1948 and educated at the University of Minnesota and at St. Mary's College.
Elizabeth Berg's first novel was "Durable Goods". "Talk Before Sleep" was a 1996 Abby Honor Book & a "New York Times" bestseller. "Range of Motion", "The Pull of the Moon", & "Joy School" were all critically acclaimed bestsellers. In 1996, she won the New England Booksellers Award for body of work. In 1997, she won the NEBA Award in fiction, and in 2000 became the author of an Oprah Book Club selection. Her book, The Dream Lover, is a New York Times 2015 bestseller.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Love, work and the absence of both figure prominently in Berg's latest, a rumination on loss and replenishment. Since novelist Helen's husband, Dan, died a year ago, she's been unable to write, and though her publisher and agent aren't worried, she is, particularly after a disastrous performance at a public speaking engagement leaves her wondering if her writing career will be another permanent loss. Meanwhile, daughter Tessa is getting impatient as Helen smothers her with awkward motherly affection. Tessa longs for distance and some independence, but Helen is unable to run her suburban Chicago home without continually calling on Tessa to perform the handyman chores that once belonged to Dan. And then Helen discovers Dan had withdrawn a huge chunk of their retirement money, and Helen's quest to find out what happened turns into a journey of self-discovery and hard-won healing. Berg gracefully renders, in tragic and comic detail, the notions that every life-however blessed-has its share of awful loss, and that even crushed, defeated hearts can be revived. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Library Journal Review
Eleven months after her husband's sudden death, Helen Ames remains helpless about home repair, ignorant of finances, and stymied by writer's block. Lonely and unsuited to any job outside the home, Helen has nothing to do but exasperate her adult daughter, Tessa, by intruding, until the family accountant calls asking about a secret withdrawal of $850,000 her husband made before dying. The mystery is quickly resolved, but in the meantime, Helen reluctantly agrees to lead an adult writing workshop for pay. The story then proceeds comfortably through Helen's coming to terms with her husband's surprise, her daughter's well-meaning withdrawal, and Helen's journey of self-discovery-with the help of her students-outside of her roles as wife, mother, writer. Prolific novelist Berg (The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted) is an accomplished master of women's fiction. Her warmth, humor, and forgiving eye for human nature, mixing wry observation with heartwarming moments, make this a pleasant read. Recommended for popular fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/09.]-Laurie A. Cavanaugh, Brockton P.L., MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Chapter One "Mom," Helen's daughter says. "Mom. Mom. Mom. Don't." Helen leans into the mirror to pick a clot of mascara off her lashes. This mascara is too old. She'll buy a new tube today, now that she intends to be a regular working woman, someone who, rather than making a thirty-foot commute from bedroom to study and working in her pajamas, actually dresses up and goes out of her house to be among other human beings. She'll buy some antiaging mascara, surely they've come up with that by now. What she really needs is an antiaging mirror. "It's not cute, what you're doing," Tessa says. "It's not funky or cool or fun. You'll hate it." Helen turns to face her. "How do you know? You're talking about yourself. Just because you didn't like working there doesn't mean I won't." "Mom. Imagine yourself folding the same sweater one hundred times a day. Imagine saying, 'Welcome to Anthropologie!' to hostile customers who only want to be left alone." "I hardly think they'll be hostile." Tessa waves her hand as though flicking away the blackfly of her mother's ignorance. "You've never worked retail. You have no idea how rude people can be. Or how weird." Helen refrains from answering, Expect the worst, and you'll get it! She applies a thin coat of coral-colored lipstick. "Too yellow for your complexion," Tessa says. She is the beauty editor at an online magazine; she makes pronouncements like this with some regularity. "You gave it to me!" "I know, but it's too yellow for your complexion. Throw it out. I'll get you more red tones." Helen looks at the tube. "I don't want to throw it out. I'll donate it somewhere." "Mom. Mom. It's used." "Well, then, I'll give it to Grandma." Helen regards herself in the mirrror. She sees that Tessa is right about the color of the lipstick on her. She wipes it off and puts on a pinkish shade. Then she walks to the front hall closet to get her coat. "This is going to be a complete waste of your time," Tessa says. One eyebrow is arched, and her head is tilted in the "I can't wait to say I told you so" position. "The operative word being 'your.' " "What?" "It's my time. I can waste it if I want to. And anyway, it won't be a waste. I need a change of pace." Tessa puts on her coat. She does not button it, and Helen does not tell her to. As she is frequently reminded, her daughter is twenty-seven years old. Still, it's November and cold outside, an insinuating dampness in the air. Tessa does wrap her muffler securely around her throat, Helen is happy to see. "You aren't going to listen to me no matter what I say," Tessa says. "You're going to go down there and apply and they'll hire you because they're desperate and then you'll see how disgusting it is to work with spoiled brats and then you'll quit." "Well," Helen says. "It will be something to do. Won't it. Do you want a ride back downtown?" Tessa wordlessly exits the house, letting the storm door fall shut instead of holding it open for her mother, who is close behind her. Helen figures the whole way downtown, Tessa will continue to punish her, and she considers for a moment telling her daughter to take the el home, but she won't. It's her daughter. She wonders how many times in her life she's told herself that. There is silence until they are out of Oak Park and onto the Eis Excerpted from Home Safe: A Novel by Elizabeth Berg All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.