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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
Aug 2015, 368 pages
Paperback:
Aug 2016, 384 pages
Book Reviewed by:
BookBrowse First Impression Reviewers
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Here is a truth that can't be escaped: for Mia "Rabbit" Hayes, life is coming to an end ...
Mia-"Rabbit"-Hayes knows that life is hard for everyone. And she knows that she's one of the lucky ones. She loves her life, ordinary as it is. And she loves the extraordinary people in it: her spirited daughter, Juliet; her colorful, unruly family; the only man in her big heart, Johnny Faye. Rabbit has big ideas, full of music and love and so much life. She has plans for the world. But the world, it turns out, has other plans for Rabbit: a devastating diagnosis.
Rabbit is feisty. And with every ounce of love and strength in her, she promises that she will overcome. She will fight fight fight. She will be with those who love her for as long as she can, and she will live as long as she can with music and love and so much life. And as her friends and family rally round to celebrate Rabbit's last days, they look to her for strength, support, and her unyielding zest for life. Because she is Rabbit Hayes and she will live until she dies.
Chapter One
Rabbit
Outside, pop music played, a child squealed with delight and a bearded man holding a 'Walk with Jesus' placard danced a jig. The leather seat felt warm against Rabbit's skin. The car rolled forward, forming part of a slow and steady stream of traffic snaking through the city. It's a nice day, Rabbit thought, then slipped into a doze.
Molly, Rabbit's mother, looked from the road to her daughter, taking one hand off the steering-wheel to adjust the blanket covering the thin, frail body. Then she stroked the closely shaved head.
'It's going to be OK, Rabbit,' she whispered. 'Ma's going to fix it.' It was a bright April day and forty-year-old Mia 'Rabbit' Hayes, beloved daughter of Molly and Jack, sister of Grace and Davey, mother of twelve-year-old Juliet, best friend to Marjorie Shaw and the one true love of Johnny Faye's life, was on her way to a hospice to die.
When she'd reached their ...
What I love the very best about this book is the author's strong affirmation for both life and death, and the indelible link between the two...continued
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(Reviewed by BookBrowse First Impression Reviewers).
Jane Green
What a beautiful book. I started crying on page one, crying and smiling my way through to the end. I found it to be searingly, sweetly painful.It is difficult to write an uplifting book about death and dying but it seems that Anna McPartlin has succeeded in doing so.
We featured a dozen uplifting books about a variety of topics in a recent blog post and invite you to add them to your reading list and share recommendations of your own.
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