NEW RELEASE
Keepsake - Kristina Riggle (2012)
Sisters Trish and Mary have both been affected by their mother's hoarding but in drastically different ways. Trish is raising two boys by herself since her husband left when the items in their house started closing in around them. Mary, on the other hand, keeps her house in meticulous order, so much so that she anything out of place causes her major anxiety. When Trish's younger son, Jack, injures himself in the house and Child Protective Services arrives to investigate, she realises she needs to do something about the situation before she loses her children. Reluctantly, she agrees to get help from Mary, their judgmental father and her ex-husband in an attempt to preserve her family. In the process of getting to the bottom of the piles of stuff, the sisters uncover startling information about their mother and finally begin to understand that there is always more to something that what we allow the world to see. While Keepsake is a fascinating look into the issue of hoarding, it is more an example of things on the surface being far from what they appear. Touching yet somewhat predictable in spots, the story takes a closer look at the relationships between family members and how we learn to cope with the tragedies of life until we are effectively ready to deal with them. (LEK)
What happens when the things we own become more important than the people we love? That's the question asked by Kristina Riggle's Keepsake. The summary says: "Trish isn't perfect. She's divorced, raising two kids - so of course her house isn't pristine. But she's got all the important things right and she's convinced herself she has it all under control. That is, until the day her son gets hurt and Child Protective Services comes calling. It's at that moment Trish is forced to consider the one thing she's always hoped wasn't true: that she's living out her mother's life as a compulsive hoarder. The last person Trish ever wanted to turn to for help is her sister Mary - meticulous, perfect Mary whose house is always spotless ... and who moved away from their mother to live somewhere else, just like Trish's oldest child has done now. But now, working together to get Trish's disaster of a home into livable shape, two very different sisters are about to uncover more than just piles of junk, as years of secrets, resentments, obsessions, and pain are finally brought into the light." Keepsake is out in June.