Shelter Me

<p>In the tradition of Marisa de los Santos and Anne Tyler comes a moving debut about a young mother's year of heartbreak loss and forgiveness...and help that arrives from unexpected sources</p><p>Four months after her husband's death Janie LaMarche remains undone by grief and anger. Her mourning is disrupted however by the unexpected arrival of a builder with a contract to add a porch onto her house. Stunned Janie realizes the porch was meant to be a surprise from her husband--now his last gift to her.</p><p>As she reluctantly allows construction to begin Janie clings to the familiar outposts of her sorrow--mothering her two small children with fierce protectiveness avoiding friends and family and stewing in a rage she can't release. Yet Janie's self-imposed isolation is breached by a cast of unlikely interventionists: her chattering ipecac-toting aunt; her bossy over-manicured neighbor; her muffin-bearing cousin; and even Tug the contractor with a private grief all his own.</p><p>As the porch takes shape Janie discovers that the unknowable terrain of the future is best navigated with the help of others--even those we least expect to call on much less learn to love.</p>