Last One Home
By Debbie Macomber
Publisher: Ballantine
Cassie Carter grew up in a middle-class home with parents
who loved one another and their three daughters and with an older and younger
sister with whom she shared close ties despite sibling rivalry fueled by
Cassie’s status as her father’s favorite. But at eighteen, with college on a
four-year scholarship the next step in her life, a pregnant Cassie ran away to
marry a man her father had forbidden her to see. Her husband insisted his job
opportunities were better in Florida, about as far from her family’s home in
Spokane, Washington as one could get. Instead of the happily-ever-after life of
which she had dreamed, Cassie found herself trapped in a nightmare. Estranged
from her family and isolated from her new community, she was left with no
support system when her husband became physically abusive. Her daughter Amiee
was seven when Cassie realized that her very life was at stake. Escaping with
Amiee through the window of a locked bedroom, she found sanctuary in a shelter
for women.
After testifying against her husband and seeing him
sentenced to prison, Cassie began to build a new life for herself and her
child. Rejected by her family who knew nothing of all she had endured, she
depended upon food stamps and government housing while she earned a certificate
in cosmetology. Five years later, she has created a home for her and Amiee in a
modest apartment in Seattle where Cassie works as a hairstylist and volunteers
as a victim advocate at a local shelter. She still struggles to make ends meet,
but she dreams of going to college and getting a degree in social work.
Cassie’s life takes a turn for the better when she is
approved for a Habitat for Humanity home and her older sister Karen contacts
her. Although Karen is far from effusive when the sisters talk, Cassie is
overjoyed with even a tenuous connection. Except for news of her parents’
deaths, Cassie has had almost no contact with her family since she left home
more than a dozen years ago. Missing them has been a constant ache, and the
possibility of providing her daughter not only with a new home but also the
family Amiee hungers for seems to Cassie almost too good to be true.
Reestablishing a relationship with her sisters is not easy.
Old resentments and guilt linger. Cassie, who thinks her sisters have near
perfect lives, has told them nothing about the reasons for her split from her
husband, but they too are struggling with problems. Karen, happily married with
two children, discovers that her husband has lost his job but is too ashamed to
tell her, and Nichole, mother of a toddler, finds out that her husband is
following the example of his chronically unfaithful father. Cassie is also
forced to admit that her first impression of Steve Brody, a successful contractor
who is her supervisor as she puts in her sweat equity for the Habitat for
Humanity program, is wrong. Rather than the judgmental jerk he seems to be
initially, he is a still grieving widower who proves himself a friend when
Cassie needs one. Steve is interested in becoming more than Cassie’s friend,
but even though the attraction is strong and Amiee approves of the match,
Cassie’s past has left her fearful and determined to protect her independence.
Last One Home is a
rare standalone from Debbie Macomber whose popular series have made her a perennial
on bestseller lists, but Ms. Macomber’s fans will find this story just as
rewarding as her more usual fare. Cassie is a compelling character, and
although the abused wife as heroine is a staple in romance and women’s fiction,
Cassie’s lack of family and friends as well as her socio-economic status make
her an exception.
She stayed because she
didn’t feel it was an option to leave. She had no job, no money, no friends, no
connections. She was completely dependent on Duke, and for more than her and Amiee’s
physical well-being. Emotionally she was tied to Duke, but those ties were like
barbed-wire fencing, ties that brought her nothing but pain. Still, she hadn’t
been able to find the courage to leave, not until it became a life-or-death
situation.
Her hard work, her love for her daughter, and her refusal to
be defeated by her own bad choices in the past make Cassie an easy character to
admire. Although her relationship with
Steve gives the novel a strong romantic thread, Cassie’s struggle to give her daughter
a safe and happy life and the renewal of sisterly bonds lie at the center of
this story. Amiee with her eagerness to
know more about her aunts and cousins, her enthusiasm for KFC, and her chatter
about her BFF is an endearing and believable character, and the confining and
defining family roles of childhood that complicate the reunion of Cassie and
her sisters as much as their years of separation also has the ring of truth.
If you are a Macomber fan, you will be happy with this book.
Readers who like women’s fiction stories that focus on the triumph of a female
protagonist over obstacles that would have defeated a lesser spirit will enjoy
Cassie’s story. Last One Home is
likely to add another title to Debbie’s Macomber’s long list of beloved books.
~Janga
~Janga
Just finished this book and I did like it but at the beginning those sisters drove me nuts I thought they were so selfish but the story got better after that... I too would recommend the book.
ReplyDeleteIt will be nice to read a stand alone by her. Not that I dislike her series, but as with most series, I always feel I am missing something if I haven't read all the books in order. I like the sound of these characters and the story line. This will be one I will definitely read.
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