Book Review
by Betty R Ewert
excerpted from A Journey Together Newsletter of the Bereaved Parents of the
USA, Volume X, No. 3, Summer 2005:
"Prevailing Winds by Hadley
Hoover is a novel. Because of this, my first inclination was that this
was not a book to review for this newsletter. However, I read it and
am glad I did. It is the story of a woman, Laurel McPherson, who is
grieving for her husband but coming to realize that she has harbored a grief
over the death of their child for 30 years. Her husband did not want
to talk about it and, as the book progresses, she realizes that had a
profound effect on their other children and on them.
She goes for a visit with a friend who
introduces her to a man whose wife has died. He helps her to come to
realize that she must face the grief over the child's death and encourages
her to go to a support group for help. The parts about the effect this
has had on her children and their confrontations and the growing
relationship with this new man have many insights that will seem familiar to
many bereaved parents.
Laurel even returns home to find out
that her parents (the grandparents) have attended a support group for years
because they knew the need to talk and were concerned about Laurel's
inability to face her grief.
Her new friend is a builder of bridges,
and hence the title, Prevailing Winds, since in building bridges one
must take into consideration the winds that will blow around the bridge.
She comes to realize that people too must deal with prevailing winds or they
will bend or break in the process. Hadley Hoover does a good job of
expressing the feelings that bereaved parents have."
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