Since losing my mom 3 years ago, I am starved for the conversation that only mothers and daughters can share. The conversations that feel like mom placed a warm cup of tea in your hand and a wrap around your shoulders. Mysteriously enough, Struggles and Triumphs gave me the same warmth that mom offers.
Perhaps it’s because the book is about women, and correctly so, for women. A chick flick on paper, so to speak. Or maybe it’s because I could relate to every story in the book because I am a women, and I understood what motivated each character to think, feel and act as they did. I would smile, sigh, and do other things women do when they understand. The reading experience was a conversation between my inner woman and those that have blazed the trail before me. These are the kinds of stories you believe should be shared woman to woman, just as an intimate conversation between mother and daughter is.
My personal favorite was the chapter titled “The Journey”. When faced with her son’s death, Alice is forced to work through her beliefs in God. Is there a God? Is there life after death? Is there hope for her mom and son who have gone on before her? It is only through her struggle with these questions that she triumphs. And that is the basis of the entire book.
Each chapter represents a different story, told with thoroughly researched and accurate information yet told in the way Simmons believes it happened, or could have happened. Complete with questions for each chapter, you will want to share the experience. Whether enjoying it over a cup of tea or in a book club setting, Struggles and Triumphs is a perfect book to share with the other women in your life.
Struggles and Triumphs
paperback 170 pages
Pleasent Word Publishing
Released 2008
