This is one of the first books I read in 2013 and what a book!
`A Song for Jenny ` is a mother's account of her life
for five weeks and six days - from a beautiful summer’s morning until her daughter Jenny’s funeral.
It started with a phone call, interrupting her holiday
in the family holiday home on Anglesey, from her other daughter to say that
Jenny wasn’t answering her phone and that there had been some explosions in
London that morning.
At
first they all held the hope that Jenny was busy at
work and couldn’t answer her phone. But her boyfriend could get her on
the
phone either and her office reported that she hadn’t arrived. Julie and
the
family found out four days after that morning, that suicide bombers had
taken the life of
Julie's daughter. 51 other innocent people also lost their lives and
many were injured and maimed on that summer morning July 8th in 2005
The book is so descriptive and beautifully written, that I
could have been standing in Julie's shoes looking out of the window that
morning watching the birds and remembering family holidays gone by; but then, of
course, she takes us with her into the waiting, the hope, despair, the anger,
the disbelief and the guilt for being so focused on the one child who had gone.
Julie's description of the pain and longing is heart wrenching to read but with
equal skill brings Jenny to life on the page; this beautiful and vivacious daughter. Even though the account concludes
with Jenny's funeral, the reader knows that Julie must have Jenny very securely
in her heart to have written this and that gives us hope.
That a mother can survive the loss of her daughter in
such terrible circumstances and go on to write such a moving account of the
experience is an inspiration to us all.
Once I started reading this book I couldn’t put it down
and there were many times when my eyes filled with tears. Even though you know
the outcome, I recommend that this book is worth reading, because until you do
you can never understand or realise the actual effects that these dreadful acts
have on those who remain behind after a loved one is taken so suddenly
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