Sassafras
by Trish Heald
💥💥💥💥
(4 stars)


What a great book!
This is the story of Champs, a patriarch who has a cabin on the Sassafras River off the Chesapeake Bay.
We meet Champs shortly after his beloved wife of many years, Pat, has passed away.
We follow along as he learns to cope and interacts with his kids, grandkids, friends, and most of all, life without Pat. (I don't want to spoil a great story).

Having just lost my own Dad, this book really resonated for me, especially the wonderful and touching wisdom of Champs' neighbor Josanne, whose calling is making memorial cross-stitch samplers. There are so many funny, touching moments in the book, and it is really well written.

At one point Josanne says,
" We want so bad to figure out death, to get away from the hurt, to make it something else. I think death is a great fissure thrown in our path, like a crack in the earth. Now, some of us are gonna spend the rest of our time looking into that crack paralyzed and full of fear. Others are gonna be drawn into it and disappear in the blackness. There’s some fools gonna try to jump over it to the other side, where the grass is always greener, but they never really make it. the only way I’ve seen it work, is to build a bridge. And to build a bridge takes time, it takes materials, and most of all it takes other people. You can’t do it alone.”

This really resonated and hit home for me. So. Much. Wisdom.
A book about healing wrapped up in comedy and love.
One of the best things I've read in a really long time.
Brava!

Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are my own.