The Art of Mending: Elizabeth Berg

This was a tear jerker about family and how you only see them from your point of view. A woman, Laura, goes home for the yearly family get together for the town fair, only this time her Father becomes ill. At first they think something he ate didn't agree with him and they head to the fair, then they find out he had a stroke. During this time the middle sister, Caroline, tells her siblings her childhood was very different from theirs. Their mother was constantly threatening her and ran after her with a knife. She disclosed that she spent time in a hospital while they were off at camp. When they get back to the grandparent's house, Laura is told her Father had died from another stroke while the siblings were meeting. Laura is torn between believing her sister, who has always been dramatic to defending her mother, but then she starts remembering things about her mom that were a little off. At the end of the book, the mother admits to her children that she did have trouble loving Caroline and Carline simply wanted to start fresh and work on their relationship from that day forward.