Fly Away (Firefly Lane #2) by Kristin Hannah
Tully Hart has always been larger than life, a woman fueled by big dreams and driven by memories of a painful past. She thinks she can overcome anything until her best friend, Kate Ryan, dies. Tully tries to fulfill her deathbed promise to Kate---to be there for Kate's children---but Tully knows nothing about family or motherhood or taking care of people.
Sixteen-year-old Marah Ryan is devastated by her mother's death. Her father, Johnny, strives to hold the family together, but even with his best efforts, Marah becomes unreachable in her grief. Nothing and no one seems to matter to her . . . until she falls in love with a young man who makes her smile again and leads her into his dangerous, shadowy world.
Dorothy Hart---the woman who once called herself Cloud---is at the center of Tully's tragic past. She repeatedly abandoned her daughter, Tully, as a child, but now she comes back, drawn to her daughter's side at a time when Tully is most alone. At long last, Dorothy must face her darkest fear: Only by revealing the ugly secrets of her past can she hope to become the mother her daughter needs.
A single, tragic choice and a middle-of-the-night phone call will bring these women together and set them on a poignant, powerful journey of redemption. Each has lost her way, and they will need each one another---and maybe a miracle---to transform their lives.
An emotionally complex, heart-wrenching novel about love, motherhood, loss, and new beginnings, Fly Away reminds us that where there is life, there is hope, and where there is love, there is forgiveness. Told with her trademark powerful storytelling and illuminating prose, Kristin Hannah reveals why she is one of the most beloved writers of our day.
Review: In the aftermath of her best friend's death, Tully Hart falls apart. She promised Kate that she would be there for Kate's children, but Kate doesn't know the best way to show up. And Kate's grieving husband Johnny pushes Tully away. Meanwhile, sixteen-year-old Marah is devastated by her mother's death and pulls away from everyone who loves her. As the characters continue to spiral in the years after Kate's death, is there any hope that they will reconcile?
This was a crushingly dark novel. There was little good that happened. In Kate's absence, two of the people she loved the most become completely undone and resort to extremely destructive behaviors to cope. The central premise of the novel seems to be that in every family there is a linchpin, vital person and without that person, the family will unravel. While I do feel like some family members do provide much of the glue of a family, it seemed too exaggerated in this novel. Drugs, alcohol, dropping out of school, horrific car wrecks - it is just a lot to see unravel because Kate died. It felt like someone would have stepped up. Most notably, I kept wondering why Kate's mother, who is characterized as the most perfect, storybook mother in the first book, felt mostly absent in this book. Why doesn't she show up for Tully and Marah in a more meaningful way to fill the void left by Kate?
I did like that I got to see more of these characters' stories. But it wasn't what I hoped it would be. The first book in this series was a great, glorious ode to female friendship and motherhood. This was a dark dive into the underbelly of grief that has the power to wreck lives. The one good thing that came out of the book was a deeper exploration of Tully's mother, Cloud/Dorothy. The reader got to learn a lot more about her story and background and also see some realization for Tully and her mother, which was satisfying.
Stars: 3
Related Titles:
- Firefly Lane (Firefly Lane #1) by Kristin Hannah
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- The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
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- The Women by Kristin Hannah
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