Barbara Sterling is a 58-year-old wife, mother, and grandmother. She has spent her entire life putting her family first. Her husband’s job, making TV documentaries about the world’s atrocities, has always came before the needs of Barbara and their marriage. Barbara’s life is turned upside down when she is let go of her job because of budget cuts. She finds herself unravelling and overcome by debilitating panic attacks. Her husband, oblivious to his wife’s needs, goes to Mexico for a few months to work. After a friend finds Barbara a tutoring job for a 10-year-old boy, her life soon changes after encountering the boy and his grandfather. I loved that the heroine in this novel was not a twenty-something young woman, but a mature middle-age woman who is at a turning point in her life. I think most mothers can relate to Barbara and the feeling that they often lose themselves when they put everyone else ahead of their basic needs. The novel was beautifully written and the ending is very satisfying. (AO)
Losing Me, by Sue Margolis, centres on a woman who's stretched so thin, she almost disappears. The summary says: "Knocking on sixty, Barbara Stirling is too busy to find herself, while caring for her mother, husband, children, and grandchildren. But when she loses her job, everything changes. Exhausted, lonely, and unemployed, Barbara is forced to face her feelings and doubts. Then a troubled, vulnerable little boy walks into her life and changes it forever." Losing Me is out in July 2015.