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Waiting for the Miracle: Warm your heart with this uplifting novel from the bestselling author of THE LAST DAYS OF RABBIT HAYES

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So they went to Staten Island—drove down the J.F.K. Expressway, then the long stretch of the Belt Parkway, past the gray jellied mass of the ocean, across the foggy Verrazano Bridge, and, finally, down endless Hylan Boulevard, with its depressing storefronts. All the while Sergey sang along to his favorite Leonard Cohen CD. Waiting For The Miracle is set over two time periods. Catherine's story begins in 1976, and Caroline begins her tale in 2010. Dual time stories are my favourite, I think it's a clever way to allow readers lots more insight into the creation of character and situation, it works so well in this novel.

That Catherine not only stands up for herself and demands to keep her baby is an astonishing feat of will power, she is adamant that her child will not be sold or given away. Her prayers to the saint of lost souls, St Jude, are for such a small miracle, to be allowed to keep her child. But the harsh reality of being a single parent in late 70's/early 80's Ireland are far from an attainable. And then there is newcomer Ronnie, an American who breezes in and has a Marmite effect on the friends. But is there more to her than meets the eye? But always between those two extremes of existence is the soul, winging it alone, "longing" for her g~dly Lover, aided by her confused temporal lover, Leonard. The book has a dual timeline - we meet Caroline in 2010, married to Dave and struggling with infertility. She wants to try one last round of IVF but he doesn’t. She attends a infertility support group and we meet some of the women in the group on their own difficult journeys (Janet, Natalie and Ronnie).For her he has nothing to offer but crumbs, but apparently she settles for that. She is taken by her patient love for him." Another emotional rollercoaster read about loss, hope, courage & friendship, I was hooked right from the very start, I loved how the story changed between current day and the past with Catherine's story, have your tissues ready.' I urge you to read this book. Have a box of tissues nearby, but devour it and then pass it on. It's a book that deserves to be read. He warns her: she won' t be happy. The severe judgements are his: his music is not perfect (his severe judgement: it’s just bubblegum), she’s not perfect either (so she will be judged, too)

Vadik grabbed Sergey by the sleeve and pleaded. “Serega, please, take me to the subway or something. I’m dying here. I need to get to the city!” Caroline’s husband Dave feels second-best. Janet suspects her husband of having an affair, and Natalie is beginning to believe her partner, Linda, isn’t fully committed to a baby. Ronnie, meanwhile, keeps her reasons for joining the group secret. Unbelievably, the last Magdalene laundry only closed in 1998 (although some research puts this closure earlier, in 1996)! So for me, his songs are generally songs of the soul (feminine) and it is god and leonard who confuse their identity; but she, the soul, is ever-present and identifiable. That is my starting position for discussion.

Vica interrupted him. “But we can let Eric play across the street by himself, because, you know, you can see him from the window.” The overriding theme in Waiting for the Miracle is infertility, but in addition to this, secondary themes also include the treatment meted out to unmarried mothers in Ireland in the not too distant past, friendship, resilience, family values and the fact that sometimes we do get to choose and create our own families. Honestly not even sure where to begin with how to describe the pure joy and release that reading 'Waiting For The Miracle' brings? Mixing sacred and profane verses, "Hallelujah" is about the folly of trying to live a sanctified life in a fallen, imperfect world. The song offers biblical wisdom, sexual healing and haunted, inspired solitude. The singer looks for beauty in every syllable, every stroke of sex, every note that is offered up to the Lord–to G-d, as Cohen writes–but he also realizes, at least implicitly, that it is his lust, his flaws, that cause a stupendous, epic fall. The only version of "Hallelujah" as sublime as Cohen’s is one performed by Bob Dylan in 1988 in Montreal. (It’s available online.) Dylan’s voice, like Cohen’s, is gravelly, and when he sings "there’s a blaze of light in every word," you can glimpse the illumination amid the haze. When Dylan first heard the song, along with the rest of Various Positions, he said that Cohen’s songs were starting to sound more like prayers.

He is taken by his longing for perfect love, all he can do is waiting for that to come, For her he has nothing to offer but crumbs, but apparently she settles for that. She is taken by her patient love for him. Weaving two seamless narratives, from the not so distant past and the present, in 2010, this is a deeply moving and well constructed meditation on the internal, and external, expectations of motherhood. Who will have the happy ever after dream and who will settle for the dream never happening? I raced though it in 2 days to find out. I particularly loved the flitting between current day and the character Catherine's story from the past and was eager to see how the 2 would come together. Wrap yourself up in a duvet and start reading. You won't be disappointed.' He" and "Him" (never mind the case) are aspects of god; like the hindu atman and brahma. And I like to read Leonard as confused as to whether he is atman or brahma; and therefore either or both Leonard and god could be offering the "crumbs".

They got to the bus stop a second after the bus pulled away. They had to race to intercept it at the next stop. And then Vadik was in, dropping his coins into the slot one by one as the bus pulled off. Heading to the city. Natalie and her partner, Linda, are hoping to use her twin Paul's sperm so that their IVF baby will have both their DNA. Is this just a little too close for comfort in the familial relations stakes? Many Thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers and Zaffre Books for inviting us on this Blog Tour. She asked him where he was staying, and the answer seemed to horrify her. “Staten Island?” she said. “But it’s so late! How are you going to get there?” And then she cleared her throat and offered to let him stay at her place. Vadik squeezed her hand even tighter.

In 2010, Caroline, Nancy, Janet and Ronnie, things are very different. Caroline and husband Dave have agreed the toll of IVF is too much and the last attempt was the very last one. Except Caroline is still holding out for the tiniest miracle that Dave will change his mind... Catherine is nothing if not determined, and I absolutely loved reading about her fighting spirit! I also loved reading about Dublin during this time. No matter how rigid and staid society is, as a whole, there will always be those who fall just outside of what’s accepted. When they find each other it’s a beautiful thing. McPartlin’s description of the judgment and discrimination of this era that was experienced by anyone considered to be “other” is harsh and jarring. I felt incredibly uneasy reading about it and knowing that much of this still exists today, and that many people who don’t fit into some ridiculously defined mould of “normality” still experience this treatment. McPartlin doesn’t just handle infertility with authenticity and respect, she casts a cold eye on Ireland’s past and keenly dissects the Mother and Baby Home experience for so many women. The detail is spot on, down to a heavily pregnant Catherine being slung across the priest’s crossbar in the death of night (this happened to a young girl sent to Tuam).Vadik took her hand in his. Her fingers were thin and startlingly warm. “More English poetry in Russian?” he asked. This is the story of a group of women wanting to become mothers, actually it’s more than wanting, it’s needing to have a child and their journeys through IVF, miscarriages, infertility, relationships, marriage and hope. This story really broke me at times. I have a very very personal reason for that. I was born to an unmarried Irish Catholic woman in 1966. Ten whole years before Catherine's story, and every single day, I give thanks to the strength that my mother showed at that time. I give thanks that she managed to keep me, and rear me and find me a wonderful Daddy, and I cry on behalf of the women who were not able to do what she did. He asked her to recite some of her favorites. She said that there were two things she simply couldn’t do in someone else’s presence: recite poetry and dance. Her confession touched Vadik so much that he wanted to hug her. He reached over and pulled on her braid instead.

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