by Frances Stanford

Created on: November 01, 2009

Debbie Macomber has a way of seamlessly blending several different storylines and characters in all of her books, but she has outdone herself in this regard in Susannah's Garden. The first chapter of the book introduces the reader to Vivian and it is clear that this lady is in the first stages of Alzheimer's Disease as she gets lost in her own neighbourhood and thinks that her dead husband is the one who brought her home. At first, the reader may think that this book is about Vivian and Alzheimers. but we meet Susannah in the second chapter.

Susannah is Vivian's daughter and it is through her that we learn about the family. She is a teacher living in Seattle and her father, who was a judge, has only recently passed away. Due to the nature of her job she was not able to spend very much time with her mother at the time of the funeral and is planning a visit now that the school year is over. A phone call from one of her mother's friends who has been looking after her alerts Susannah to the possibility that her mother may not be well when she finds that Vivian has accused Martha of stealing her spoons. A phone call to her mother and a neighbour confirms her suspicions that her mother should not be living on her own.

Susannah also has other problems on her plate. For some reason, she has been thinking about a boyfriend from her teenage years and her daughter, with whom she can't seem to connect, is coming home for the summer, but does not have a job. As she introduces the character of the daughter, Chrissie, Macomber takes us to the dorm at the university in Eugene as Chrissie is waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up. It is clear from her thoughts that all is not well in this relationship and we learn more about the mother-daughter relationship.

Susannah encounters a mystery in her hometown of Colville, which makes this novel a page turner. She tries to find some information about Jake, but he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. At about the same time she was dating Jake, her brother Doug had been killed in a tragic accident. Susannah also thinks a lot about her father with whom she did not have a good relationship, thinking that her father didn't love her and that he was heavy-handed in his dealings with Jake. She suspected that he did play a role in the break-up.

Although she did not like the idea, Vivian did move into an assisted living facility and the reader follows her journey to acceptance as she makes friends. At one point she made friends

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