The Real Mother

by Judith Michael

Judith Michael is beloved around the world for powerful stories of love and family. Now this renowned author returns with a richly emotional tale of the many kinds of love and the collision of good and evil that threatens to tear a family apart. Sara Elliott has been forced to give up the life she's dreamed of to return home to Chicago and take charge of her sisters and brother. She finds a job and settles into the house she grew up in, building a life for ten-year-old Doug and teenagers Carrie and Abby. But Sara has another brother, Mack, now twenty, who left home three years earlier. Suddenly he reappears, cheerful and unconcerned, as if he had never broken his promise to stay and help Sara with the children and the house. With bewildering volatility, Mack swings from kindness to cruelty, affection to hostility, keeping the family always on edge, his past and present a mystery. But with expensive gifts, storytelling, and the excitement of his presence, he is winning over the children, and sometimes the four of them stand together against Sara. Mack challenges all Sara has achieved in trying to be a mother and keep her family together. And he does it at a time when she is confronted by crises at work that spill over into her home. Suddenly, events seem to be speeding past and Sara feels she cannot slow them down to regain control. And then, when she thinks her life has room only for work and family, she meets Reuben Lister, a client from New York. As Sara helps him find and furnish a house and explore the city, they discover a closeness neither has known before and share new ways of dealing with conflicts each has always faced alone. Together, Sara and Reuben find answers to the What is a mother? What is a parent? What is a family? This is Judith Michael's most poignant exploration of the pressures and joys facing modern adults and children, in a story that will resonate with everyone for its universal themes and discoveries.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Romance

421 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Judith Michael is the pen name of husband/wife team Judith Barnard (b. 1934) and Michael Fain (b. 1937).

Reviews

[M. Schilling · Rating 2 out of 5]

Would not recommend this book. It had a story, but unraveled very slow and was boring. The end was predictable and yet it didn't tie up all the loose ends.

[Carol Gibbons · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute story but not too exciting!!!

[Wendy Fee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't nearly as enjoyable as some of their earlier works. I found the dialogue to be very contrived, and the gaps in the timeline didn't help move the plot along.

I'll stick to the early books.

[Joy H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story. Kept my attention all the way through. Listening to this audio was like listening to a radio drama. Lots of dialogue. The reader, Melissa Leo, did a good job.

[Karen Hufman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I remember reading a lot of Judith Michael books and really liked them- this was not one of them. Sara is a 27 year old whose mother is in nursing care and she is in charge of her much younger siblings. Things take a bit of a dark turn when an older brother turns up. I had so many issues with this story: the kids did not act like the ages they were portrayed as, there was no explanation as to why Abby and her brother, Doug were in grades far above their given ages, Sara (the sister) kept moaning about the way she was handling the kids versus the way a 'real' mother would do things, the mother was able to needlepoint but she couldn't write (why not use a keyboard??). The brother's constant alliteration was annoying... I could go on and on about what I didn't like about the book. The characters were very cartoony and it didn't have a very good ending.

[Sandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought the major theme of the book was inviting and unusual. But there were so many passages that could have been deleted, eliminated or shorten that caused me to scan them and go on to the next page because they were--in my opinion--unnecessary. Also there were areas of the story that were left hanging, so you wondered "why was that brought up?" or "what happened to...?"

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sara's life was very full, with a mother in the nursing home, a missing father, a "wild-hair" brother, 2 teen sisters, and a 10 yr. old brother. Having to leave medical school to take care of the younger siblings, Sara's ability to handle a household was rocked when her older brother re-appears and a love interest shows up.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a fan of Judith Michael but did not enjoy this book. I tried to enjoy it - but the dialogue came off as middle schoolish. I really hated the older brother calling Sara “Sis” about 9,000 times. I also found his way of speaking very annoying.
The way all of the family interacted didn’t seem to fit the ages — except for Doug, the 10 year old brother.
Wouldn’t recommend this book.

[Joni Aveni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is there a sequel to this book? Because there were way too many loose ends. Also, I can’t remember when I’ve read a book where I’ve disliked just about every character. But there it is. Still somehow it kept my interest.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

how bland

[Debbie Whetstone Collinge · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy reading books by this wonderful author!

[Susan]

Good, like author--Judith Michael

[Dorothy Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay story with a happy ending, but the bed guys didn't get their comeuppance. We were left wondering.

[Pat Lightbown · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good book with a different story line. Not a generic one.

[JoAnn Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok

To much description which took away dramatically from, the story line. It also seemed like a long time before a plot came into play.

[Les · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried to finish it but just couldn’t. Last 50 pages were more of the boring flowery no plot writing. Not even a decent airplane or beach book. Plot worth about 50 pages out of 509 page book.

[Éveline Lussier · Rating 3 out of 5]

C’est l’histoire de Cendrillon, version années 2000… Sara met sa vie et ses projets de côté pour répondre aux besoins de tous, jusqu’à ce qu’elle rencontre le (riche) prince charmant…

[JQ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am only giving this 2 stars because of the many implausibilities in this book. I felt the children were just not believable enough in their behavior and speech for the ages they were supposed to be. On one hand they were written much older than their years, especially in the way they thought and spoke, but then on the other they would behave like a much younger child when it suited the purposes of the story - for example not leaving a burning building when I am sure even a much younger child would know enough to leave said building. I also found it unbelievable that the eldest sister, the caretaker of these children, would leave them to jaunt across the country when all these various things were happening which could potentially leave the chidren in danger (and as it turned out, did). We were supposed to believe she was so intelligent and capable, but this was just truly stupid. I also felt it ended too soon. The least the authors could have done was tie up the loose ends of the nefarious brother - What happened to him? Will he be caught? Will he be punished for his many crimes? Sara didn't seem at all concerned that he tried to murder his younger sisters and brother and was still on the loose!

[Debbie West]

I read this book because of the authors. I've enjoyed several of their books. However, this was by far my least favorite. I'm glad Sara found happiness. Mack's arrival definitely stirred things up also..but there were too many philosophical points and too many thoughts of characters. I would rather Judith & Michael, coauthors, had focused only on the thoughts of Sara & Reuben. This wasn't a romance, it was definitely a novel. I like happy endings which this one had. But getting to it took forever, in my opinion. The little bit if action was more about emotion, thus falling flat to keep me interested. But I read it through anyway. One thing I totally disliked was the double adjectives, alliterated--especially by Mack. Even ither characters started using them. They were extremely annoying! e were a few good scenes as the authors are good at what they do. It just wasn't my kind of romance novel..was just too heavy on too many people, if you know what I mean.

[Bj Hoover · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't agree with many of the reviews on Amazon on this book. Yes, the language is pretty crude, but a point is being made about it being not proper use of the english language! The characters are quite damaged by life, thereby acting in inappropriate ways. One feels sorry for the children and the hand they have been dealt and especially for the older sister who carries the burden. It is hard to understaand the brother and his twisted ways, but the love the sister and her client find is rewarding and satisfying. Again, loose ends are not tied up at the end, which disappoints me.

[Fatima · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gloomy book that no one knows of. I believe it sort of solves a certain family issue which is the burden that the responsible member family has.
As it shows the point of view of the eldest who is responsible of a family of 3 or so. It teaches us that we should divide the work between the members.

Overall it's a nice enough book and all it needs is someone who doesn't have any work to do only read.

[Patsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to put down.
Mack Hayden, volatile and dangerous, shows up, all smiles, on Sara's doorstep. Sara has been struggling to build a new life for herself and her ten-year-old brother Doug and teenage sisters Carrie and Abby, after she was forced to give up her dreams and come home to Chicago to take care of them.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read other Judith Michael books and liked them. Unfortunately, I can't say the same about this one. It is the story of a sister raising her younger siblings. Some turmoil is caused by the return of a brother, but other than that, not much happens. And oddly, the dialogue and tone of this book struck me as very old fashioned, even though the story was set in current times.

[Debbie Henson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite authors that I hadn't read in years. It gives a me a different perspective to know a husband and wife team are the author. Mother figures come in all kinds of packages and families these days.

[Dorothy Garland · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, but was disappointed in the hurried ending it was almost like the author was tired of writing about these characters and rushed the end. It would have been nice to know what happened to the older brother,and the man that murdered his wife did he get away with it.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story of an older sister put into the position of raising her younger half-siblings when their mother has a stroke. Written by a husband and wife team, and their styles don't really mesh well. The character kept bouncing back and forth in perception and emotion.

[Ravi Chandra]

Currently reading, on a very initial face of the book, so can,t say much about it as of now.

[Cassandra Salinas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love this author. I have read books of theirs before. It's a husband/wife team.

[Revonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good read, was kinda slow in some parts.

[Pam Duval · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice story - predictable but nice.