| Abstract |
Growing up in an isolated North Carolina mountain home, Jean is awed by her parents' deep love for each another. She herself meets O.T., a "handsome, attentive" soldier, who marries her just before he leaves for World War II. When he returns, he is a changed man, and Jean, lonely, grows desperate for a child. She finally conceives, but the tragic birth of a stillborn baby changes their relationship. Decades later, O.T. is in a nursing home after a stroke. When a nurse asks an innocent question about the visits of a woman the nurse thinks is Jean's daughter, Jean begins to guess at the truth. Her feelings of betrayal and anguish at her husband's infidelity are made worse when he dies, leaving her to face his daughter alone. Forced to reckon with a legacy she didnt know existed, Jean finds a friend the last place she expected. A novel of faith and faithlessness, heartache and forgiveness, The Last Odd Day is ultimately a story of strength and endurance. It is also a tale of the surprisingly delicate beauty of intimate relationships, as we follow one woman whose world is falling apart and watch as she slowly repairs it. |
