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Category: Women’s Fiction, Literary Fiction, Relationships, Touching on supernatural
Tour Date: Mid May, 2013
Available in: eBook, 180 pages
Sometimes the ties that bind people together can also tear them apart. In FINDING LILY, first-time novelist Lisa D. Ellis explores that delicate balance that exists in all relationships and tries to find meaning in a world that is sometimes kind and sometimes harsh.
Her narrator Claire, who is reeling after the unexpected loss of a newborn baby Lily, walks the fine line between love, loss, heartache and healing. Unable to cope with her grief, which seems magnified by her husband Jim’s colder coping style, Claire leaves Jim behind and runs away to live in a lighthouse she had fallen in love with as a child.
At first all Claire wants is an escape but slowly, the lighthouse sheds new light on her situation and helps her reimagine her life in a new way, sometimes with her feet on the ground and sometimes lifting up beyond the boundaries of reality to help her reconnect with Lily. Claire’s memorable journey to the lighthouse — and back again — is a story of hope and of possibility.
Readers will fall in love with Claire and with the rich images and rhythmic tones that Ellis masterfully weaves from the very first page through to the satisfying conclusion of FINDING LILY.
Review
Losing a child is most parent's worst fear. Claire and her husband, Jim, only had moments with their daughter, Lily, before a heart defect took her away too soon. Claire feels suffocated by life, seeing her daughter around every bend. She needs a place to heal and seeks refuge at a place from her youth--a lighthouse.
Against her husband's wishes, Claire heads to this place of solitude and cuts herself off from the world. She even disconnects the phone at her new abode. Letters start pouring in from her parents and Jim asking her to return, but she knows she needs the time. There she has visions of her daughter and finds a way to begin the healing process.
Claire's emotions are told with heartbreaking honesty. As I was reading, Claire's pain became so real that at times I had to come up for air and put the book down for a moment. A mother myself, I could only imagine the depths of Claire's despair. Just as heartbreaking was knowing how much Claire loved Jim, but how hard she was finding it to reach out to him. As he fought giving in to his tears, she was craving crying with him.
Through Claire's journey, we not only see her coping with losing her daughter but we see pieces of her own childhood and learn about her relationship with Jim. With every tear, I became closer to Claire. I felt like I was reading the private journal of a dear friend. My only complaint is that I wish it had been longer, because I wanted to know how Claire was still doing years later. But this complaint stems from how much I cared about Claire.
If you appreciate a beautifully written, emotional story, please pick up a copy of Finding Lily. Just make sure you have a box of Kleenex beside you.
Rating: 4 stars
About Lisa Ellis
Lisa Ellis is a writer whose short fiction has appeared in a number of literary journals and magazines. FINDING LILY is her first novel. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University and provides health content regularly for hospitals and websites in New England and the tri-state area.
Lisa’s Website
Lisa D. Ellis on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisadellisauthor
Lisa D. Ellis on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LisaEllisauthor
Buy Finding Lily
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SoulMatePublishing
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Book Trailer
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Giveaway
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a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks to Virtual Author Book Tours for including me on this blog tour. For more information, please visit the Finding Lily blog tour page.
I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review. A positive review was not guaranteed or requested; the opinions expressed are my own.
