The Half of It

I fell in love with the way Juliette Fay writes beautiful and layered characters when I read her book Shelter Me years ago (if you haven’t read it yet, it is an absolute must). In The Half of It, Fay shows her strength in writing relatable yet emotionally charged characters dealing with the challenges in everyday life and the remnants of possible past mistakes, but still keeping the story light with humor and witty dialogue.

Overall, this is a moving story that captures the challenges in marriage, families, friendships and how we handle loss and forgiveness.

Synopsis: When 58-year-old Helen Spencer reviews her life, what she sees are the mistakes. Over the years, things seemed to go sideways incrementally, one little wrong decision at a time. She can even pinpoint where it all started to go awry: a wonderous, romantic night in the woods her senior year of high school with a boy named Cal Crosby. A night she would soon work hard to forget.

Forty years, one marriage, three children, and one grandbaby later, suddenly there he is—Cal Crosby!—right in front of her with grandchildren of his own in tow. The chance to finally get some answers and sort out what happened is within reach. But Helen would much prefer to keep that night and all the fury, hurt, and sorrow that followed tightly locked away where she doesn’t have to face it.

 Cal Crosby, however, is ready to talk. He has no idea of the can of worms he’s about to open. In fact, he doesn’t know the half of it.