Review: A Hundred Small Lessons by Ashley Hay

by Susan Roberts

This is an excellent book about love in the past and the present. It's about a house and the way memories seem to be part of the house to be felt by future families who live within its walls.
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November 2017; Atria; 978-1501165139
audio, ebook, print (304 pages); family life

Elsie has lived in her house for 62 years - she moved there as a young bride, raised her children there and watched her husband die there. She loves her house and plans to live in it the rest of her days. When she falls and has to go into the hospital and then into senior living, her children fix up the house and sell it to a young couple with a child. Lucy and Ben along with their son have lived in many different areas but are ready to settle down. Ben goes off to work every day and Lucy stays at home with their son. Lucy begins to feel Elsie's presence in the house - like Elsie is communicating with her and she even begins to talk to Else in her mind. Lucy never really feels that it is her house - she always thinks of it as Elsie's home. While Lucy is thinking about Elsie, Elsie is thinking about her life and her history in the house. The chapters are done in alternating order - first Elsie and then Lucy and the reader is able to learn about the history of the house and Elsie's earlier life.

A Hundred Small Lessons is about the many small decisions - the invisible moments - that come to make a life. These richly intertwined lives spin a warm and intricate story of how to feel - deeply and profoundly - what it is to be human; how to touch the shared experience of being mother or daughter; father or son. It's a story of love, and of life.

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About the Author

Ashley Hay is an Australian author who currently lives in Brisbane. She has been a writer for over 20 years and her books span fiction and non-fiction. Her previous novel, The Railwayman’s Wife, was published in Australia, the UK, the US, and is heading for translation into Italian, French, and Dutch. It won the Colin Roderick Prize (awarded by the Foundation for Australian Literary Studies), as well as the People's Choice award in the 2014 NSW Premier's Prize, and was also longlisted for both the Miles Franklin and Nita B. Kibble awards.

Connect with Ashley on her website and Facebook

Also available at Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling.  She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends.  She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with her on Facebook, Goodreads or Twitter.

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