"Elephant in the Sky" by Heather A. Clark

SUMMARY :

Widely acclaimed for her ability to tell emotionally powerful stories that capture the real lives of women, bestselling novelist Heather A. Clark tackles the subject of childhood mental disorders. Elephant in the Sky is told from both nine-year-old Nate’s point of view and that of his mother, Ashley, an overworked ad executive who struggles with a demanding workload and the worry that she’s not spending enough time with her family — especially as her son’s battle with mental unbalance and paranoid delusions escalates. The two narratives converge in a deeply moving tale of a family dealing with mental illness.

Elephant in the Sky is a story about unconditional love, and it articulates a complicated, real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity. It looks at what it means to be different in our society and beautifully explores the distance a mother will go to protect her child.

PARTICULARS OF THE BOOK :
Published by:  ECW Press
Pages:  326
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Author:  Heather A. Clark
Purchase this book:  Amazon


ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

Heather A. Clark is the author of the bestselling novel Chai Tea Sunday. She lives in Oakville, Ontario, with her husband and three children. Visit her online at heatheraclark.com.


THE BOOKISH DAME REVIEWS :

This is one of those books that is startling in its raw truth while it is heart-warming in conveying love and family bonding.  I blitzed through this novel hardly stopping for a breath it was so good!

Heather A. Clark is brilliant in telling a story while making it so real we believe every note of it.  I was deeply moved by the child in the novel as well as the mother who believes in him.  The boy and his innocent way of being "lost" was so authentically expressed.  I wondered if Ms Clark actually knew a child from whom she took this story, if felt so real.

This is not a tear-jerker of a story.  It has substance and solid writing behind it.  It's one of the best I've read on the subject of childhood mental illness since Clark doesn't choose to make us pity the boy...just love and respect him.

Highly recommended to everyone.  This would be a perfect book for a gathering of friends to discuss.

May be pre-ordered on Amazon for a May release...

5 stars                    Deborah/TheBookishDame