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A Thread So Fine by Susan Welch

Can love for a secret child heal old wounds?
Introspective and artistic Shannon Malone and her more popular sister Eliza are Irish twins and best friends. In the summer of 1946 as womanhood approaches, both look forward to promising–but different-futures. When tragedy strikes and rocks the Malone family to the core, one sister leaves, possibly forever. The other, physically and emotionally scarred, vows to hold the invisible thread that runs between them. In the course of her journey, she discovers a secret child and the true meaning of family, but is it enough to bring her sister home?

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About the Author

Susan grew up in Minnesota and Wisconsin with either her nose in a book or her toes in the water. After graduating with a Masters in International Management from AGSIM-Thunderbird, she spent fifteen years in business calling on breweries across the world, which gave her a treasured perspective both on cultural diversity and on the opportunities she might discover for learning, giving and growing. She now works for a company focused on regional agriculture, new technologies, and craft brewing.

Always a writer, Susan often attempts to solve her problems in third person, creating fictionalized versions of herself and the main characters in her life—mostly in her head, but sometimes on paper. Nearly a decade ago, in the days after discovering her own adoption story for the first time, she turned to her imagination to trick her reeling mind so she could get a good night’s sleep. A THREAD SO FINE was born of those creative threads weaving into nocturnal dreams as she struggled to re-write the beginning of her own life story.

Welch created Shannon and Eliza, Nell and Miriam as a way to imagine how women such as her Midwestern birth mother and adoptive mother might have overcome challenges as young Catholic women in an optimistic, but socially restrictive post-World War II culture. With the exception of FDR’s Labor Secretary, Mrs. Frances Perkins, the people in A THREAD SO FINE are all much loved fabrications layered with realities, truths and insights about her cherished mother, her brave birth mother, her beloved mother-in-law, her younger sister, and herself. When not traveling for work or pleasure, Susan spends her time either on the family houseboat in Seattle, or in a cabin in the dark and rainy, sometimes balmy woods of Lummi Island – and if she’s lucky, her husband Bruce is right there with her.

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My Review

5 Stars

This story is about twin Irish-American sisters, Eliza and Shannon Malone growing up in Minnesota in 1946. When they were younger, they were on their own a lot as their mother had her own demons from the past to fight with. But as they grew older and even though they were close, different evens split them up.

I quickly found myself engrossed with the story of Eliza and Shannon. They are growing up just after World War II and finding their place in a male driven world. Tragedy strikes with an unexpected birth and a diagnosis of tuberculosis. Both girls have their own battles to fight but I kept hoping that they would find themselves back together.

It is clear that Susan Welch did her research and was talking from personal history. It was very easy to get into this story but extremely hard to put it down. I would step away but would find Eliza and Shannon on my mind pondering what was going to happen next. I also learned a lot about the tuberculosis sanatoriums, which I’m young enough to not know about. Definitely a heartbreaking read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to read and post an honest review.

I would like to thank Page-Turner Publicity for the opportunity to read and share this book.