So pleased that reviews are rolling in for my forthcoming book, The Price of Breathing, that releases on September 15th (next month!), including this marvelous one from The Reading Bud. ๐๐
An excerpt: โAuthor Faith could easily have reduced this premise to a conventional love triangle, but she does something far more intelligent and compassionate. Helenโs jealousy is neither mocked nor treated as selfishness; Floraโs illness does not render all her desires automatically innocent; and Harryโs decision to go is both generous and emotionally complicated. Even Gus, Floraโs husband, gradually emerges as a affecting figure rather than an obstacle placed between former lovers. By allowing Helen, Harry, Flora, Gus and several peripheral characters to speak for themselves, author Faith reminds us that the same relationship can look entirely different depending on who is remembering it, and that love, loyalty and regret seldom arrive in morally convenient forms.
The poems centred on Flora and the iron lung are the most powerful in the collection. Faith captures not only the terror of being unable to breathe independently, but also the indignities that accompany prolonged illness. The recurring lists of things Flora misses are deceptively simple and deeply moving because they make us recognise how much of life rests inside actions most of us never think to value.โ
Check out the whole review here, and consider preordering today: The Price of Breathing clickety-click.