Morning in This Broken World

From the bestselling author of The Kindness of Strangers comes a poignant and life-affirming novel about our connections to the past, and the promise for the future during the least promising of times.

Grieving but feisty widow Vivian Laurent is at a late-in-life crossroads. The man she loved is gone. Their only daughter is estranged and missing. And the assisted-living facility where her husband died is going into quarantine. Living in lockdown with only heartache and memories is something Vivian can’t bear. Then comes a saving grace.

Luna, a compassionate nursing assistant and newly separated mother, is facing eviction. Vivian has a plan that could turn their lives around: return to her old home and invite Luna and her two children to move in with her. With the exuberant eleven-year-old Wren in her hot-pink motorized wheelchair and Wren’s troubled older brother, Cooper, the new housemates make for an unlikely pandemic pack, weathering the coming storm together.

Now it’s time to heal old wounds, make peace with the past, find hope and joy, and discover that the strongest bonds can get anyone through the worst of times.

Genre

Contemporary Fiction

Literary Fiction

My Thoughts

This is a beautifully written book d about people coming together from such completely different backgrounds to form a family. It is set against the backdrop of the early days of the pandemic. This made it a surprisingly challenging read for me. I was surprised how quickly it took me right back to all of the feelings I experienced during the pandemic.

There are numerous plotlines woven into the novel: dementia, loss of a spouse, and breast cancer, to name a few. And, of course, there’s COVID, which is like a character by itself in this story. Overall, Kittle captures everything we dealt with during the pandemic — with accuracy. There is the fear of the disease itself, along with all negativity that sprang up with the virus. There are the people who refused to wear masks and obey social distancing. There are the people who hoarded so many supplies that nothing was left for others, and the people who refused to believe that the virus was (is) a serious condition.

This could have been a depressing and unsettling story but in the end it becomes a narrative filled with light and hope as we follow the characters through their personal struggles in the middle of what was one of the biggest global challenges or our time.

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The characters remind you that it’s okay to be human. It’s okay to feel and think things that may be uncomfortable, or unpopular, because we all have those intruding thoughts. The characters in this novel are messy and honest, real and raw. They inhabit the parts of ourselves that we try to keep hidden, and that’s what makes you want to hug them all close and root for them. 

This novel shares the values of tolerance, understanding, and empathy.  Even though it’s a difficult read, I love that the author doesn’t shy away from the dark parts of life and ultimately chooses to embrace light and love. That left me feeling hopeful. I give this book 4 stars.