Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2014
352 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Mara Nichols is a successful lawyer, devoted wife, and adoptive mother who has received a life-shattering diagnosis. Scott Coffman, a middle school teacher, has been fostering an eight-year-old boy while the boy's mother serves a jail sentence. Scott and Mara both have five days left until they must say good-bye to the ones they love the most.
Through their stories, Julie Lawson Timmer explores the individual limits of human endurance and the power of relationships, and shows that sometimes loving someone means holding on, and sometimes it means letting go.
"Starred Review. "The characters are so affecting it's tough to make it to Day 5. An authentic and powerful story." - Kirkus
"Timmer's unflinching depiction of Mara's deteriorating condition and Scott and his wife's difficulties in parenting an emotionally troubled older child make her novel a compelling read and a good choice for book clubs." - Booklist
"This starkly intimate epistolary novel that follows the diaries of two parents - one a dying mother, the other a foster dad - dissects the experiences of losing hope and finding strength. " - Publishers Weekly
"A beautifully drawn study of what is at risk when you lose control of your own life. Unique, gripping, and viscerally moving - this impressive debut novel heralds the arrival of an extremely talented writer." - Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of The Storyteller and The Lone Wolf
Five Days Left is a heart-wrenching drama about a world in which there are no easy answers. With an unflinching gaze, Julie Lawson Timmer explores what makes a family, what happens when bonds (familial and otherwise) are tested, and the relationships we forge that change our lives. This novel feels as true as life." - Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train
"Julie Lawson Timmer's novel pulls no punches. It takes no prisoners. It is pure and honest. I sat down with this book after dinner, and, when I looked up, it was 2 a.m. and I had turned the last page. My only regret was that there weren't a hundred more pages." - Jacquelyn Mitchard, New York Times bestselling author, The Deep End of the Ocean
This information about Five Days Left was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Julie Lawson Timmer grew up in Stratford, Ontario. She now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband Dan, their four teenage children and two badly-behaved labs. She is a lawyer by day, a writer, mom/stepmom, fledgling CrossFitter and dreadful cook by night. Visit her at www.julielawsontimmer.com.
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