Patty Pick for 8/17/17 is "Making It Work" by Kathleen Glassburn

I am very lucky to have a wonderful friend who sent me this book by Kathleen Glassburn to read. Don't you just love friends who love books as much as you do?! To make it even better, she unknowingly sent it during one of my more difficult times of the year - the anniversary of my Dad's death. Every year it makes me sad and I think about all the times I wish that he were still here. So what an awesome treat to open up this package and find "Making It Work" from my dear friend, Amy. If you have a good friend, you are blessed. Let's just say that I am blessed many times over. 

In "Making It Work" we grow to know Sheila Gallagher as she makes her way from a struggling home life to marriage and then unto divorce and living on her on. Sheila is a product of her turbulent 60's generation. She 
yearns to head out on her own and start life. She is a smart, talented girl who is studying for a music career when she decides to marry her high school sweetheart, Jim. With her college plans on hold she follows her new husband to Long Beach. Jim joined the Navy during the Vietnam War and they must move to California for his first assignment. 

The newlyweds find that life is hard in California and people are not always who you think they are. Sheila finds a job to help support them and makes friends with her co-workers. After Jim is deployed, she leans on them to help her endure the separation, but soon finds that her musical talent and drive will shape her future. This is a story of the times, the turbulent 60's and 70's as told by someone who shows that she understands the feeling of the nation during that time perios.  

This is also a story of Sheila and her quest to live, to be valuable and to have a voice of her own. As she matures, we watch the paths she will follow and the actions that her choices will force her to take. Sheila takes us on a visual tour of the times as she journeys toward her future. No matter the year, we are all taking this same journey everyday. "Making It Work" shares with us a new feminine voice in Sheila as she reaches for her dreams. This is a well written book that will allow us to follow Sheila's journey through ten years and to watch the choices she makes and her dreams, no matter where they take her. A solid 4 stars!