I have just finished reading the amazing Beyond's Grace Rainbow by Carmel Harrington and I have to admit that I still have some tears rolling down my cheeks. I was actually quite proud of myself because I had managed not to cry for most of the novel. Not because I was not warming to the book (on the contrary, I was totally hooked), but because Carmel writes a surprisingly fun story full of life, love and fighting. But then, I got to the ending and that was it, the floodgates opened and I was a complete mess. What an amazing, poignant, emotional story!
Beyond Grace's Rainbow tells the story of Grace, a single mom who finds out that she has Leukemia. Grace is an amazing character, as Liam defines her in the book, she is beautiful inside and out. She has had a complitcated life but she has grown to become a strong loving woman. But what makes her story so special is her group of friends. They help, protect and confort her in every possible way, showing what true friendship is about, putting a brave face when necessary but also just being there, crying and hugging when there is nothing else to say or to do.
Also key to the story are Liam, Grace's alcoholic exboyfriend, and Jack, their 3-year-old son. Although Liam disappeared of her life before Jack was born, he is back, assuring that he is full recovered and willing to prove to anyone that he is ready to be part of the family again and that he is trustworthy. To get to them though he has to face first the group of friends who are not going to make it easy for him. I have to admit that I didn't like Liam at first, I though that he was full of crap but little by little I warmed to him too. And Jack is the cutest, although he doesn't say a lot, when he says something he says it from his heart and you can see that he is going to grow to become a great man.
Carmel writes about delicate and difficult topics like cancer, but also alcoholism and others (I am not going to say anything else because I don't want to spoilt it, but there are some twist on the story that I didn't expect at all) with such tact and elegance that you have no other option but to get on the rollercoster of emotions that this book is. This story is going to blow you away, is going to make you cry and is going to make you laugh (not a lot of authors can achieve that). And it is going to stay with you. I am quite sure that I'll think of it every time that I see a rainbow.
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