In Tracie Peterson's novel, What She Left for Me, Jana McGuire is a pastor's wife who just returned home to Spokane from a three-week missions trip to Africa. Puzzled that no one was at the airport to meet her, she hails a cab and arrives at home to a note on the table. Her husband wrote that he left her for his church secretary and wanted a divorce. Jana saw that he also took anything of value in the house, including her jewelry. At the bank the next day, Jana discovers her savings and checking accounts have been cleaned out, leaving her only $10.
Jana's husband, Rob, told the deacon board at church two weeks previously that he was resigning because Jana wanted out of the marriage. The church searched for an interim pastor and found one, who was moving into the parsonage that weekend. Therefore Jana needed to move out of her home immediately. When Jana explained her circumstances, the men were more sympathetic. But by that time, the interim pastor was still coming, and Jana still needed to leave.
With no home or money, and finding out she is pregnant, Jana has only one choice. She has to call her mother, with whom she was not close: the mother who kept her at arm's length all her life, wished she was a boy, sent her to boarding schools, and said she wished she had aborted Jana.
Jana's mother, Eleanor, had moved to Montana to stay with her octogenarian Aunt Taffy. Eleanor doesn't want Jana to come, but Taffy is thrilled.
As expected, arguments erupt between Jana and her mother frequently while Taffy tries to be a peacemaker. Jana questions her mother about her upbringing in an effort to understand her better, but her mother shuts down any discussion of her past.
Yet Jana's presence cause Eleanor's painful memories to resurface, told to the reader in flashbacks. Eleanor had coped by shutting down all past memories and refusing to be vulnerable or close to anyone.
And Jana, in her pain and bitterness, is beginning to follow in her mother's footsteps.
Tracie includes a note at the beginning of her book forewarning readers that the book will deal with adultery and child abuse. Tracie avoids graphic details, but she wanted to write the book because, at that time (2005), one in four girls were molested before the age of eighteen. She wanted to help readers understand what people in these circumstances go through and encourage reaching out and offering love and help.
I felt Tracie achieved her goal. But I felt she could have done so a little more efficiently. There's a lot of repetition of certain points in the book. It's understandable that in real life, people will bring up the same points while arguing, or people processing situations will cover the same ground repeatedly. But fiction is usually a little more streamlined and progresses more logically from point to point.
Plus, a plot device of someone walking in unheard at a vital point in a conversation was used more than once, when once was enough.
But overall, I felt the book did a good job showing what people in Eleanor's and Jana's circumstances go through and answering common questions and feelings, like "What did I do wrong to deserve this?" and "Why didn't God stop this from happening?" Though the subject matter is difficult, it's also far too common. I applaud Tracy for writing about it.
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