First published 2006
Aaron Maciver's world shifts when his wife Madeline crashes her bicycle and suffers a devastating head injury. The accident leaves her with the mental capacity of a six-year-old child, trapped in an adult woman's body. Aaron faces an impossible choice between abandoning the woman he married and accepting this new reality. He chooses to stay. Years pass. Aaron remarries, and his second wife joins him in caring for Madeline with patience and love. Together they navigate the complexities of raising their own two children while Madeline remains a permanent part of their household. The family creates their own version of normal, but questions linger beneath the surface. How do you love someone who can no longer return that love in the same way? Hamilton explores the weight of loyalty and the different forms that devotion can take when tragedy reshapes everything you thought you knew about family.
Genres: romance, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Hardcover · Random House Inc
Content warnings: medical-trauma