Swedish sisters Astrid, Lena, and Sandra have struggled to get along since childhood, but when Lena is diagnosed with ovarian cancer, they are each thrown into crisis together.
Astrid’s well-ordered, predictable world is shaken by the return of her ex-boyfriend Michael, an American who abandoned her – and their infant son – years earlier. While Astrid has remarried and had more children, she is suffocating under her husband’s kindness and cannot escape the pull of the past. Seeing Michael at their son’s high school graduation reawakens her grief and rage, along with more complicated and threatening emotions.
Envious of Astrid’s seemingly stable life, Sandra is married to an alcoholic and drowning in debt. She turns to Lena for help at the worst possible time. Lena, fighting to stay alive, must finally confront a devastating secret she’s kept from Astrid since the summer Michael left. As the walls they’ve built between them crumble, the three sisters must try to forgive and to rebuild their shattered bonds…while there’s still time.
Beautifully written The story of these women as very emotional to me. If any of us really get to the core of what our own selfish ego desires, no marriage could survive. All that is dissolves as one sister faces death. Old ghosts and betrayal are revealed. Lives are destroyed. Rather depressing. I closed the book thinking no family could survive such microscopic focus. Sad.
but continued thinking it would get better. It didn’t Really dragged on for a while. Lost interest in it midstream, but continued thinking it would get better. It didn’t. Don’t care for the authors form of writing. The descriptions of everything went on forever. And I didn’t like the way she kept going from the present to the past.
The Heart Echoes tells a deep, emotional story. I rated The Heart Echoes 4 stars because it was a good, well written book but I didn’t enjoy it. It was sad and depressing and I prefer light, cozy, fun mysteries. I read it because it was offered to me to read and I try to vary my topics. This book would probably appeal to a serious reader who enjoys visiting people’s thoughts and feelings.