Review: The Book of Someday by Dianne Dixon

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (September 3, 2013)
• ISBN-10: 1402285728
• Source:  Publisher

“No matter how painful your life has been, you have the choice to learn from your past and then leave it. You have the choice. Every day. To love and be loved. To find your purpose. To work and to give. And to shape your world into something that’s quite remarkable.”

Three women. Seemingly unrelated. What secret ties them together?

Livvi Gray, now nearly thirty, didn’t have a normal childhood. She spent her youth locked up in her family’s home, her monstrous father and wicked stepmother watching over her.  She wrote down her wishes in a journal she referred to as her book of someday. She dreams of marrying and having children, a normal life to make up for all that has been lacking. As an adult, she turned this journal into a fictionalized account of her life. Despite airing all her pain and loss in her novel,  she continues to have nightmares about a woman in a silver dress, pearl-button shoes and bright lipstick.  Then she meets Andrew and it seems as though her dreams are finally coming true.

Micah is a famous New York City photographer. Having just received a diagnosis of breast cancer, it becomes her mission to seek redemption for an act she performed in her past that continues to haunt her, decades later. It is the response she gets from old friends, and her parents, that will allow her to decide whether or not to receive treatment or to die a slow and painful death.

AnnaLee lives with her husband, Jack, and young daughter in Long Island. Despite having potentially lucrative job as an attorney, Jack ceases to find meaning in his career, often returning home to AnnaLee and their daughter before the day is halfway over. AnnaLee struggles to maintain a facade of well-to-do life, selling heirlooms to pay their bills. When Jack’s niece, Persephone, comes to stay with them for the summer, their relationship at first is tumultuous to say the least.  Yet, AnnaLee sees in Persephone love and potential that everyone else has ignored and overlooked. Most of all, she loves the bond Persephone has formed with her young daughter, Bella.  Little does she know, Persephone has sparked a chain of events that will destroy their family forever.

As the life of each of these women unfolds, the secrets that bind them together are revealed. Their stories, riddled by tragedy, a pain like fire that continues to burn decades later.

The Book of Someday is a novel rich with compelling characters, each haunted by a past riddled with painful, life-altering mistakes. While Livvi’s character seemed more developed and fleshed out than the others, readers will quickly become immersed in each character’s life. I personally found myself nearly obsessed with what connected these three women and, while it was not revealed until the end of the novel, the journey was well worth the wait. I stayed up far later than I should have, unable to fall asleep until all was revealed. And when that truth was revealed? Wow! Even I could not have predicted it!

Bottom line: The Book of Someday is a novel that will transfix you, captivate you, hold you hostage until you turn the last pages. A story of survival and the compassion to forgive. Highly recommended.