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Missing Pieces
Lillianna Ferguson has spent the last twenty years pretending her father is dead. She moved to Oregon—far away from her childhood home in Delaware—changed her name from Emma to Lillianna and vowed never to go back.
When her brother, Greg, phones, begging her to come home to care for their father who has been diagnosed with a dangerous, aortic aneurysm, she is adamant in her refusal. When did he ever take care of her?
But Greg is equally stubborn in his arguments that she returns, as the surgeon at Johns Hopkins won’t repair the aneurysm without first amputating their father’s infected leg.
Calvin Miller, a disabled WWII veteran, survived a grenade that killed his best friend. It took off most of his right hand and left him with osteomyelitis in his leg, a bone-destroying infection, that refuses to heal. His surgeon believes his only chance for survival is amputation. The irony that his body is about to experience another explosion does not escape Lilianna.
Calvin, who has fought more than fifty years to save this leg, is adamant he will die the same way he lived—with both legs. Greg believes, if anyone can convince their father to have the amputation, it will be Lillianna.
Will she leave her safe life and reenter the minefield of her childhood?
When her brother, Greg, phones, begging her to come home to care for their father who has been diagnosed with a dangerous, aortic aneurysm, she is adamant in her refusal. When did he ever take care of her?
But Greg is equally stubborn in his arguments that she returns, as the surgeon at Johns Hopkins won’t repair the aneurysm without first amputating their father’s infected leg.
Calvin Miller, a disabled WWII veteran, survived a grenade that killed his best friend. It took off most of his right hand and left him with osteomyelitis in his leg, a bone-destroying infection, that refuses to heal. His surgeon believes his only chance for survival is amputation. The irony that his body is about to experience another explosion does not escape Lilianna.
Calvin, who has fought more than fifty years to save this leg, is adamant he will die the same way he lived—with both legs. Greg believes, if anyone can convince their father to have the amputation, it will be Lillianna.
Will she leave her safe life and reenter the minefield of her childhood?
273 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 17, 2019
30 people are currently reading
26 people want to read
About the author
Susan Clayton-Goldner
23 books186 followersSusan Clayton-Goldner was born in New Castle, Delaware and grew up with four brothers along the banks of the Delaware River. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona's Creative Writing Program and has been writing most of her life. Her novels have been finalists for The Hemingway Award, the Heeken Foundation Fellowship, the Writers Foundation and the Publishing On-line Contest. Susan won the National Writers' Association Novel Award twice for unpublished novels and her poetry was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies including Animals as Teachers and Healers, published by Ballantine Books, Our Mothers/Ourselves, by the Greenwood Publishing Group, The Hawaii Pacific Review-Best of a Decade, and New Millennium Writings. A collection of her poems, A Question of Mortality was released in 2014 by Wellstone Press. Prior to writing full time, Susan worked as the Director of Corporate Relations for University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona.
Susan shares a life in Tucson, Arizona and Grants Pass, Oregon with her partner, John Carter, her fictional characters, and more books than one person could count.
Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies including Animals as Teachers and Healers, published by Ballantine Books, Our Mothers/Ourselves, by the Greenwood Publishing Group, The Hawaii Pacific Review-Best of a Decade, and New Millennium Writings. A collection of her poems, A Question of Mortality was released in 2014 by Wellstone Press. Prior to writing full time, Susan worked as the Director of Corporate Relations for University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona.
Susan shares a life in Tucson, Arizona and Grants Pass, Oregon with her partner, John Carter, her fictional characters, and more books than one person could count.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
July 14, 2019
4.5/5.0
This is a powerful, dark, and richly beautiful story! It’s riveting and full of strong emotions and angst, with no easy answers.
Read full review in the 2019 May issue of InD'tale Magazine.
This is a powerful, dark, and richly beautiful story! It’s riveting and full of strong emotions and angst, with no easy answers.
Read full review in the 2019 May issue of InD'tale Magazine.
March 12, 2019
Lilianna has been trying to put her father's abusive treatment behind her for almost twenty years. But when her brother asks her to come back and stay with him before surgery, she finds herself unable to say no. Soon she's finding a side to her father she never thought she'd see.
"Missing Pieces" is an engrossing story, in turns heartwarming and heart-wrenching, about family relationships and family legacies. It's a story of how drinking and abuse get passed down from generation to generation--but also a story of overcoming hardship and loss through love. Lilianna's father tells her his story of losing his mother and growing up during the Depression, and Lilianna realizes there are parts of him she never knew about, or that she suppressed in order to focus on her resentment of his abuse. She even recognizes her own behavior in him.
The two stories are deftly interwoven, and although this isn't a suspense story it keeps the reader's interest high by alternating Lilianna's story with her father's. Readers should be aware that child abuse is dealt with frankly, although not pruriently. Overall, "Missing Pieces" is a beautifully written family drama/women's fiction story in the vein of Jodi Picoult's work.
My thanks to the author for providing a review copy of this work. All opinions are my own.
"Missing Pieces" is an engrossing story, in turns heartwarming and heart-wrenching, about family relationships and family legacies. It's a story of how drinking and abuse get passed down from generation to generation--but also a story of overcoming hardship and loss through love. Lilianna's father tells her his story of losing his mother and growing up during the Depression, and Lilianna realizes there are parts of him she never knew about, or that she suppressed in order to focus on her resentment of his abuse. She even recognizes her own behavior in him.
The two stories are deftly interwoven, and although this isn't a suspense story it keeps the reader's interest high by alternating Lilianna's story with her father's. Readers should be aware that child abuse is dealt with frankly, although not pruriently. Overall, "Missing Pieces" is a beautifully written family drama/women's fiction story in the vein of Jodi Picoult's work.
My thanks to the author for providing a review copy of this work. All opinions are my own.
April 17, 2019
Good? No. Okay? No. Alright? No. Readable? No. Enjoyable? No. None of these fit. If only I could think of something to describe this latest work by my favorite author of character driven fiction. What the heck is character driven fiction? Well to answer that I would kindly ask you to obtain a copy of an earlier book by this wordsmith entitled “A Bend in the Willow”.
That particular novel was the first and only time I ever ventured from the safety and comfort of my favorite genres. Namely History, Action, Sci-Fi, Horror, Mystery and some ribald humor. Wow, I am so glad I did. It’s how I was introduced to the works of Susan Clayton-Goldner (SCG). It caused me to coin the phrase character driven fiction and I said then I wasn’t sure if my Goodreads shelf would be big enough to hold “Willow”. Well, I got out the drill, put in some more screws and an extra brace to hold this latest work.
This book ran me through an emotional roller coaster as I grew up in a not so dissimilar situation. The whole story behind the story is what makes this character driven fiction.
Lilliana was so determined to put that life behind her she changed her name and moved away. Basically denied her childhood and her family for years. That is until her brother and her (as much as she hated to admit it) father truly needed her. She went back because that’s what she was expected to do, certainly not because she wanted to.
This book weaves a quilt of family life in the 50’s and 60’s. A simpler time to some but a very complex one for one little girl. She was ashamed to be Calvin Miller’s daughter. She was terrified to be that girl. Did she have good reason? No doubt. However, it’s the finishing stitch that seamstress SCG puts on this quilt with the stories within the story that make it a family heirloom.
Will you laugh? Yes. Cry? Probably. Enjoy the read? For certain. Understand exactly what I mean by character driven fiction. Absolutely. You simply must read Missing Pieces because he was, after all, her father.
That particular novel was the first and only time I ever ventured from the safety and comfort of my favorite genres. Namely History, Action, Sci-Fi, Horror, Mystery and some ribald humor. Wow, I am so glad I did. It’s how I was introduced to the works of Susan Clayton-Goldner (SCG). It caused me to coin the phrase character driven fiction and I said then I wasn’t sure if my Goodreads shelf would be big enough to hold “Willow”. Well, I got out the drill, put in some more screws and an extra brace to hold this latest work.
This book ran me through an emotional roller coaster as I grew up in a not so dissimilar situation. The whole story behind the story is what makes this character driven fiction.
Lilliana was so determined to put that life behind her she changed her name and moved away. Basically denied her childhood and her family for years. That is until her brother and her (as much as she hated to admit it) father truly needed her. She went back because that’s what she was expected to do, certainly not because she wanted to.
This book weaves a quilt of family life in the 50’s and 60’s. A simpler time to some but a very complex one for one little girl. She was ashamed to be Calvin Miller’s daughter. She was terrified to be that girl. Did she have good reason? No doubt. However, it’s the finishing stitch that seamstress SCG puts on this quilt with the stories within the story that make it a family heirloom.
Will you laugh? Yes. Cry? Probably. Enjoy the read? For certain. Understand exactly what I mean by character driven fiction. Absolutely. You simply must read Missing Pieces because he was, after all, her father.
March 30, 2019
Lillianna Ferguson receives a phone call from her brother Greg begging her to come home and help him take care of their father. Their father Calvin Miller a disabled WWII veteran is in the hospital for an aortic aneurysm. The surgeon won’t repair his aneurysm without first amputating his leg. Greg thinks that if anyone can talk him into having his leg amputated then Lillianna can.
Calvin was injured by a grenade during the war that took most of his hand and left him with a bone-destroying infection. The surgeon believes that Calvin’s leg must be amputated if he is to survive the surgery to fix his aortic aneurysm. Calvin refuses to let them take his leg saying he lived with two legs so he would die with two legs.
Lillianna doesn’t want to go home and take care of her father as he never took care of her. Their father was a very abusive man when they were growing up. Lillianna hoping to put her childhood behind her and to forget it all left or more likely ran away as an adult which was something she couldn’t do as a child. Whatever the reason was that held her back from running away all those years ago which only she knows, maybe it was just fear. She changed her name from Emma to Lillianna after she left.
I’m guessing that Lillianna thought if she changed her name that she would no longer be that person and anything that happened to that little girl was not her and all of it happened to someone else. It was her way of dealing with it and pushing everything way down deep inside of her heart to harden it and if she could push it down far enough then all the pain would go away and it would be no more.
But after talking with her husband Steve he convinced her that she needed to go see her father and talk to him if she didn’t then she may regret it for the rest of her life. Steve was speaking from a similar experience of his own. So after her talk with Steve she decided to return home to help take care of her father.
Missing Pieces is Lillianna/Emma and her father’s stories. Lillianna sits by her father’s bedside and talks to him and ask him questions about his life when he was growing up and about his life with her mother. She asks him questions she never thought to ask him before or maybe couldn’t. She gets to know the man underneath the face that he puts on for the world the real Calvin Miller.
Missing Pieces is a heart-felt story that will have you grabbing for the tissue early on as the tears will be streaming down your face. Missing Pieces is a story that may have a lot of people thinking about their lives and the pieces that are missing in their own lives giving them hope in how to put their own pieces back together again. This is one review that is very difficult to write with all the different feelings coming from it. Missing Pieces is one of those stories that will tear you apart inside in more ways than one. It is a story that you will remember for many, many years.
Do I recommend Missing Pieces? Of course I do but I would like to give warning that it deals with some very tough subjects one of them being child abuse.
Calvin was injured by a grenade during the war that took most of his hand and left him with a bone-destroying infection. The surgeon believes that Calvin’s leg must be amputated if he is to survive the surgery to fix his aortic aneurysm. Calvin refuses to let them take his leg saying he lived with two legs so he would die with two legs.
Lillianna doesn’t want to go home and take care of her father as he never took care of her. Their father was a very abusive man when they were growing up. Lillianna hoping to put her childhood behind her and to forget it all left or more likely ran away as an adult which was something she couldn’t do as a child. Whatever the reason was that held her back from running away all those years ago which only she knows, maybe it was just fear. She changed her name from Emma to Lillianna after she left.
I’m guessing that Lillianna thought if she changed her name that she would no longer be that person and anything that happened to that little girl was not her and all of it happened to someone else. It was her way of dealing with it and pushing everything way down deep inside of her heart to harden it and if she could push it down far enough then all the pain would go away and it would be no more.
But after talking with her husband Steve he convinced her that she needed to go see her father and talk to him if she didn’t then she may regret it for the rest of her life. Steve was speaking from a similar experience of his own. So after her talk with Steve she decided to return home to help take care of her father.
Missing Pieces is Lillianna/Emma and her father’s stories. Lillianna sits by her father’s bedside and talks to him and ask him questions about his life when he was growing up and about his life with her mother. She asks him questions she never thought to ask him before or maybe couldn’t. She gets to know the man underneath the face that he puts on for the world the real Calvin Miller.
Missing Pieces is a heart-felt story that will have you grabbing for the tissue early on as the tears will be streaming down your face. Missing Pieces is a story that may have a lot of people thinking about their lives and the pieces that are missing in their own lives giving them hope in how to put their own pieces back together again. This is one review that is very difficult to write with all the different feelings coming from it. Missing Pieces is one of those stories that will tear you apart inside in more ways than one. It is a story that you will remember for many, many years.
Do I recommend Missing Pieces? Of course I do but I would like to give warning that it deals with some very tough subjects one of them being child abuse.
April 10, 2019
How many times have you uttered or thought the words, I hate you I wish you were dead about a parent? Well most teens might have that reaction when the words “NO” were uttered when you really thought you were in the right and the parent was stupid and didn’t understand. However for Emma / Lillianna these were thoughts and words she spoke and thought for most of her life against a father whom she basically didn’t understand. But when it came down to it, would Emma / Lilliana be able to refuse to see or forgive a dying man who she blamed for what she considered her horrible childhood?
For the last twenty years Lilliana Fergusson pretended her father was dead. She moved to Oregon—far away from her childhood home in Delaware—changed her name from Emma to Lillianna and vowed after her mother died to never go home. But then her brother, Greg, phoned, begging her to come back to help care for their father who had been diagnosed with a dangerous, aortic aneurysm. Again Lilliana is adamant in her refusal. When did her father, ever take care of her?
Speaking to her husband after refusing her brother, Lilliana was convinced that yes, it was her decision, and yet maybe she needed to give herself one last chance before regrets would be all she had left.
Lilliana’s father, Calvin Miller, was a disabled WWII veteran. He had survived a grenade explosion that killed his best friend and took off most of his right hand as well as leaving him with osteomyelitis in his leg, a bone-destroying infection, that refused to heal. His surgeon believes Calvin’s only chance for survival is amputation of his leg before trying to fix the aneurysm. Would Lillianna be able to put to rest the hatred she’d held for the father she ran from twenty years prior and would some of that healing fold over to herself as she learned about the life her father had lived. Will she leave her safe life and reenter the minefield of her childhood?
Exceptional writing and hard to put down - Highly recommended.
Marilyn Rondeau
For the last twenty years Lilliana Fergusson pretended her father was dead. She moved to Oregon—far away from her childhood home in Delaware—changed her name from Emma to Lillianna and vowed after her mother died to never go home. But then her brother, Greg, phoned, begging her to come back to help care for their father who had been diagnosed with a dangerous, aortic aneurysm. Again Lilliana is adamant in her refusal. When did her father, ever take care of her?
Speaking to her husband after refusing her brother, Lilliana was convinced that yes, it was her decision, and yet maybe she needed to give herself one last chance before regrets would be all she had left.
Lilliana’s father, Calvin Miller, was a disabled WWII veteran. He had survived a grenade explosion that killed his best friend and took off most of his right hand as well as leaving him with osteomyelitis in his leg, a bone-destroying infection, that refused to heal. His surgeon believes Calvin’s only chance for survival is amputation of his leg before trying to fix the aneurysm. Would Lillianna be able to put to rest the hatred she’d held for the father she ran from twenty years prior and would some of that healing fold over to herself as she learned about the life her father had lived. Will she leave her safe life and reenter the minefield of her childhood?
Exceptional writing and hard to put down - Highly recommended.
Marilyn Rondeau
March 17, 2019
Lillian has struggled with her relationship with her father for years. When Greg calls and asks her to come and help him with her father she doesn’t want to go. After talking to Steve she realizes that she has to try to help her brother. When Lillian goes to the hospital to see her father she is angry with him. Watching these two try to have a relationship will have you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next. I had the honor to review this book for the author for a honest review. I would give this book a higher rating than a five star review if I could.
April 22, 2019
This is a review of Missing Pieces, the latest novel by Susan Clayton-Goldner. Before I dive into the review, I need to mention that I was provided a review copy of the book by the author and this is the eighth book of hers I have read and reviewed.
I admit to liking all of her books that I have read so far and I am going to start by telling you right up front that this is her best work yet. In Dale Carnegie classes they tell you to talk about what you know and according to Susan Clayton-Goldner's synopsis of the book, this story is about her and her father and their relationship. I don't know the author personally so I cannot comment on what parts are fiction and what parts are true, but I can tell you that the characters came to life in front of me while I read and I could not put it down. On the beach in Hilton Head with sand blowing into our tent, on the plane to New York City, and while visiting with my daughter and two grand daughters, I was totally absorbed by the story. Not even when the not-quite-2-year-old was climbing over my back to get my attention, could I put it down!
I know from my relationship with my father that I only knew parts of his story. Thank God my older brother interviewed him once about his family's emigration to the United States and the effort that it took to get here. He also recorded it so we now have his story in his words and when we need to we can listen to him tell it in his words.
Each of us has a family with a story. Some are more interesting than others. This book is about Susan Clayton-Goldner's.
The book starts with the writer character receiving a call from her older brother telling her to come and visit her father as he has to have surgery and it is risky. He could die. She doesn't want to as her memories of her father are not pleasant. Her brother “guilts” her into it and she comes and spends time with him. As she doesn't have anything nice to say to him she asks him to tell her his story. When he does, old memories return. But these memories are not of the times that caused her to hate him. These memories are of more pleasant times. So she starts to wonder if she ever knew the man at all. The more stories he tells her, the more she needs and wants to hear!
I will warn you that this book will tug at your “heartstrings” and probably bring on a few tears. I know it did for me. It also reminded me that our time here is limited. Some will have more time than others. We need to make sure that we treat those we love with kindness while they are here as we don't know how long they will be with us or us with them. And those we don't love? Try walking a mile in their mocassins before you even think about judging them. When you do, maybe you will see the world from their point of view.
The title Missing Pieces comes from the memories that were missing from the “puzzle” that was her father. As she found them, she put them together with those memories she had, and she ended up with a new version of the story of her life. It is that story that is slowly revealed to her and the reader as she listens to her father's story.
I loved the book and I think you will too. Read it; see if I am right. I bet I am!
I admit to liking all of her books that I have read so far and I am going to start by telling you right up front that this is her best work yet. In Dale Carnegie classes they tell you to talk about what you know and according to Susan Clayton-Goldner's synopsis of the book, this story is about her and her father and their relationship. I don't know the author personally so I cannot comment on what parts are fiction and what parts are true, but I can tell you that the characters came to life in front of me while I read and I could not put it down. On the beach in Hilton Head with sand blowing into our tent, on the plane to New York City, and while visiting with my daughter and two grand daughters, I was totally absorbed by the story. Not even when the not-quite-2-year-old was climbing over my back to get my attention, could I put it down!
I know from my relationship with my father that I only knew parts of his story. Thank God my older brother interviewed him once about his family's emigration to the United States and the effort that it took to get here. He also recorded it so we now have his story in his words and when we need to we can listen to him tell it in his words.
Each of us has a family with a story. Some are more interesting than others. This book is about Susan Clayton-Goldner's.
The book starts with the writer character receiving a call from her older brother telling her to come and visit her father as he has to have surgery and it is risky. He could die. She doesn't want to as her memories of her father are not pleasant. Her brother “guilts” her into it and she comes and spends time with him. As she doesn't have anything nice to say to him she asks him to tell her his story. When he does, old memories return. But these memories are not of the times that caused her to hate him. These memories are of more pleasant times. So she starts to wonder if she ever knew the man at all. The more stories he tells her, the more she needs and wants to hear!
I will warn you that this book will tug at your “heartstrings” and probably bring on a few tears. I know it did for me. It also reminded me that our time here is limited. Some will have more time than others. We need to make sure that we treat those we love with kindness while they are here as we don't know how long they will be with us or us with them. And those we don't love? Try walking a mile in their mocassins before you even think about judging them. When you do, maybe you will see the world from their point of view.
The title Missing Pieces comes from the memories that were missing from the “puzzle” that was her father. As she found them, she put them together with those memories she had, and she ended up with a new version of the story of her life. It is that story that is slowly revealed to her and the reader as she listens to her father's story.
I loved the book and I think you will too. Read it; see if I am right. I bet I am!
March 19, 2019
Missing Pieces, Susan Clayton-Goldner,
Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews
Genre: Fiction
Well, I know I enjoy Susan's writing style, this book is a wide departure from her usual suspense genre though, so would I still love it? Quick answer, yes!
Its told in three timespans, the present, Lillianna's childhood and her father Cal's childhood. At first I hated Cal, almost as much as Lillianna does. Like her I thought why should she go back to him now he is suffering, how could her brother Greg still be close to him after their terrible childhood?
Her husband says though, that this could be her last chance, that from experience he thinks she will regret not taking it and she goes.
We meet Greg and his wife Sarah, Cal of course, and his siblings, and gradually he tells Lillianna the story of his own childhood.
Its heartbreaking, I was moved to tears by what happened to Greg and Emma (Lillianna) and also by the tragic story behind Cal's early years. I suspect its a scene that was familiar back then, when it was normal to turn a blind eye to what happened behind closed doors. That does happen, even now in some families, not just those struggling for work but from all ends of the spectrum. The “walked into a door/had a fall/tripped on stairs” excuses people use to hide the truth. Sometimes it's because of fear, but so often its rooted in love for the abuser.
I did find it hard to accept that their mother loved them but yet didn't stop what was happening. Love for Cal – should it over-ride her responsibility to the kids, make them complicit in covering what happened? Its a tough one, Cal and Cassandra shared a real soul melding connection, and yet when things went wrong in life the effects hit all the family. After Cal's upbringing you'd think he'd be more aware of the dangers and yet he repeats the cycle, something research shows is incredibly common, abusers were very often abused themselves.
Its a hard review to write without giving away what happened, but its a book that's riveting to read, incredibly emotional and one I found hard to put down.
There's no happy ending, as in my usual reading choices, no real winners, but there is a satisfying sense of closure, of a past finally dealt with, of letting go of anger, that only harms the person feeling that emotion.
Its easy to hold on to bitterness and resentment, but in honesty that damages us personally more than anyone else, and Susan shows us its possible to get past that, to remember old hurts but with fresh eyes, and be a better person for it.
I like to think as a parent I did the best I could but looking back I can see there were things I could have done differently, I guess that's common to most of us. We only get one shot at life, and we do what feels right at the time. Whether that is the right way only time can tell.
Stars: Five, an emotional, at times tearful, read. Made me look into what makes us tick as humans, how our past and present affect our behaviour, shape us as people, and one I'm sure I'll reread.
Arc via author
Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews
Genre: Fiction
Well, I know I enjoy Susan's writing style, this book is a wide departure from her usual suspense genre though, so would I still love it? Quick answer, yes!
Its told in three timespans, the present, Lillianna's childhood and her father Cal's childhood. At first I hated Cal, almost as much as Lillianna does. Like her I thought why should she go back to him now he is suffering, how could her brother Greg still be close to him after their terrible childhood?
Her husband says though, that this could be her last chance, that from experience he thinks she will regret not taking it and she goes.
We meet Greg and his wife Sarah, Cal of course, and his siblings, and gradually he tells Lillianna the story of his own childhood.
Its heartbreaking, I was moved to tears by what happened to Greg and Emma (Lillianna) and also by the tragic story behind Cal's early years. I suspect its a scene that was familiar back then, when it was normal to turn a blind eye to what happened behind closed doors. That does happen, even now in some families, not just those struggling for work but from all ends of the spectrum. The “walked into a door/had a fall/tripped on stairs” excuses people use to hide the truth. Sometimes it's because of fear, but so often its rooted in love for the abuser.
I did find it hard to accept that their mother loved them but yet didn't stop what was happening. Love for Cal – should it over-ride her responsibility to the kids, make them complicit in covering what happened? Its a tough one, Cal and Cassandra shared a real soul melding connection, and yet when things went wrong in life the effects hit all the family. After Cal's upbringing you'd think he'd be more aware of the dangers and yet he repeats the cycle, something research shows is incredibly common, abusers were very often abused themselves.
Its a hard review to write without giving away what happened, but its a book that's riveting to read, incredibly emotional and one I found hard to put down.
There's no happy ending, as in my usual reading choices, no real winners, but there is a satisfying sense of closure, of a past finally dealt with, of letting go of anger, that only harms the person feeling that emotion.
Its easy to hold on to bitterness and resentment, but in honesty that damages us personally more than anyone else, and Susan shows us its possible to get past that, to remember old hurts but with fresh eyes, and be a better person for it.
I like to think as a parent I did the best I could but looking back I can see there were things I could have done differently, I guess that's common to most of us. We only get one shot at life, and we do what feels right at the time. Whether that is the right way only time can tell.
Stars: Five, an emotional, at times tearful, read. Made me look into what makes us tick as humans, how our past and present affect our behaviour, shape us as people, and one I'm sure I'll reread.
Arc via author
April 16, 2019
This book will keep you turning the pages until you finally read the last one. I did’t want it to end but as with all good ones it had too. Throughout this story I had a love-hate feeling for Calvin. I hated the things he did to his wife and two children. I hated that he was so mean and abusive. I had no intention of letting him off the hook for it. There is no excuse for hitting.
Lillianna/Emma grew up in an abusive home with her older brother, Greg. Their dad was an alcoholic and prone to hitting when he was drunk. Lillianna left home many years before vowing to never return. But she did when her dad was in the hospital. She was suppose to talk him into having an amputation that would increase his odds of living through another major surgery.
Calvin was a child, young man and later a drunk. He was a disabled veteran from WW2 who lost most of his fingers and a lot of bone in one of his legs. He was just a young man newly married who wanted the best for his family. From a fairly young age Calvin knew what it was to want to be loved. To be touched, hugged, loved by the ones who should have treasured him. He was a kind, caring, loving child who lost his mother at a young age. For some reason other family found it hard to get close to him. To truly see him. He left his grandparents at a young age and made a life for himself when the war broke out. Of course he insisted and wanted to do the right thing. I loved that Calvin. My heart broke for that Calvin. But after he was hurt and crippled he became someone different. Someone who was mean and cruel.
While in the hospital awaiting surgery Calvin and Emma/Lillianna were reunited. Lillianna came to see her dad after being away many many years. She knew she hated him but listened as he told her his story. Reading his story was like looking into the life of someone you don’t want to like but will eventually thaw out the heart. He was such a good person until that grenade took away a huge part of him. He loved his wife with all of his heart. He loved his children the same way too. Things happened in his life to turn him bitter and angry. He took that anger out on his family while wondering why they didn’t hate him and blame him for the accident that took such a part of him away. You may or may not learn to forgive Calvin. I did.
I wept reading this book. Some happy tears and some very sad and ugly tears. It will touch your heart in many ways. It did mine. He was a very complicated man in many ways but also seemed to have the heart of such a kind caring person. Even through the bitter mean years I think he cared deeply.
This is a great book. One you need to read and maybe learn forgiveness. It’s told through Lillianna’s voice and through the things Calvin told her. It’s just a very good book and I highly recommend it.
Thank you Susan Clayton-Goldner for this ARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review. I give it a big 5 stars for all the great feels, and some very sad ones. For making me feel like I was there looking at the scenery and for the forgiveness this book made me feel. It’s an all around good book. I loved it!!
Lillianna/Emma grew up in an abusive home with her older brother, Greg. Their dad was an alcoholic and prone to hitting when he was drunk. Lillianna left home many years before vowing to never return. But she did when her dad was in the hospital. She was suppose to talk him into having an amputation that would increase his odds of living through another major surgery.
Calvin was a child, young man and later a drunk. He was a disabled veteran from WW2 who lost most of his fingers and a lot of bone in one of his legs. He was just a young man newly married who wanted the best for his family. From a fairly young age Calvin knew what it was to want to be loved. To be touched, hugged, loved by the ones who should have treasured him. He was a kind, caring, loving child who lost his mother at a young age. For some reason other family found it hard to get close to him. To truly see him. He left his grandparents at a young age and made a life for himself when the war broke out. Of course he insisted and wanted to do the right thing. I loved that Calvin. My heart broke for that Calvin. But after he was hurt and crippled he became someone different. Someone who was mean and cruel.
While in the hospital awaiting surgery Calvin and Emma/Lillianna were reunited. Lillianna came to see her dad after being away many many years. She knew she hated him but listened as he told her his story. Reading his story was like looking into the life of someone you don’t want to like but will eventually thaw out the heart. He was such a good person until that grenade took away a huge part of him. He loved his wife with all of his heart. He loved his children the same way too. Things happened in his life to turn him bitter and angry. He took that anger out on his family while wondering why they didn’t hate him and blame him for the accident that took such a part of him away. You may or may not learn to forgive Calvin. I did.
I wept reading this book. Some happy tears and some very sad and ugly tears. It will touch your heart in many ways. It did mine. He was a very complicated man in many ways but also seemed to have the heart of such a kind caring person. Even through the bitter mean years I think he cared deeply.
This is a great book. One you need to read and maybe learn forgiveness. It’s told through Lillianna’s voice and through the things Calvin told her. It’s just a very good book and I highly recommend it.
Thank you Susan Clayton-Goldner for this ARC in exchange for my honest unbiased review. I give it a big 5 stars for all the great feels, and some very sad ones. For making me feel like I was there looking at the scenery and for the forgiveness this book made me feel. It’s an all around good book. I loved it!!
April 15, 2019
Rich with characters that you worry about even when you are not reading.
Review of Clayton-Goldner’s Missing Pieces, By Helen M. Hogan
Susan Clayton Goldner rates five stars in her crown for her story of painful family
relationships in Missing Pieces, her latest novel. She skillfully moves from daughter to
father with viewpoint, enhancing her theme that most family conflicts have two sides.
Readers first meet Lilliana wjem she gets the classroom her brother Gregg on
the East Coast that their father is hospitalized and needs surgery. The WW!! vet has an
aneurysm complicated by an infected leg he refuses to allow doctors to amputate.
Lilliana’a emotions overwhelm her: resentment that her father who abused her most of
her childhood needs her help now, and frustration at the imposition on her time, as if her
writing career is meaningless.
Finally Gregg’s appeal for help and her own guilt for leaving so many years ago
combine to convince her, and she agrees to come back East.
She steels herself to endure the few weeks in the hospital room with her father
Calvin Miller. The vet got a lot of shrapnel from a grenade blast when he saved several
other soldiers. He still suffers.
To make use of her time, Lilliana, whom her father named Emma, decides to
spend their time interviewing her father for his life story, noting all the details to later use
in a book. Soon she becomes so involved that she knows she wants to write the story
of his life. Goldner then exchanges episodes of Miller’s life with Lilliana’s journal
depicting her memories from childhood.
Anyone who has dealt with the pain a family suffers with an alcoholic parent will
appreciate the way Goldner weaves in the complex feelings of daughter and father. We
see Calvin’s physical pain, his depression at not finding or keeping a job, and his feeling of
helplessness as he gambles away what money he does make and sees himself
mistreating the children from his own frustration. Perhaps most touching is the flashback
to Calvin’s youth when he whittled toys for his younger siblings only to have his father
sell them to get money for booze.
As the two come to understand each other and appreciate each other, the reader
realizes hope for a happy ending is just asking too much. but both characters realize
that the two weeks getting to know each other has been some of the happiest time of their
lives.
Goldner includes the hospital ambiance, sounds and smells, that increase the
tension on family members waiting for news. Missing Pieces, though relatively short,
brings depth of character and richness of setting. Even her epilogue picks an incident
from her child hood to contrast to the modern time, sewing up a perfect conclusion.
Review of Clayton-Goldner’s Missing Pieces, By Helen M. Hogan
Susan Clayton Goldner rates five stars in her crown for her story of painful family
relationships in Missing Pieces, her latest novel. She skillfully moves from daughter to
father with viewpoint, enhancing her theme that most family conflicts have two sides.
Readers first meet Lilliana wjem she gets the classroom her brother Gregg on
the East Coast that their father is hospitalized and needs surgery. The WW!! vet has an
aneurysm complicated by an infected leg he refuses to allow doctors to amputate.
Lilliana’a emotions overwhelm her: resentment that her father who abused her most of
her childhood needs her help now, and frustration at the imposition on her time, as if her
writing career is meaningless.
Finally Gregg’s appeal for help and her own guilt for leaving so many years ago
combine to convince her, and she agrees to come back East.
She steels herself to endure the few weeks in the hospital room with her father
Calvin Miller. The vet got a lot of shrapnel from a grenade blast when he saved several
other soldiers. He still suffers.
To make use of her time, Lilliana, whom her father named Emma, decides to
spend their time interviewing her father for his life story, noting all the details to later use
in a book. Soon she becomes so involved that she knows she wants to write the story
of his life. Goldner then exchanges episodes of Miller’s life with Lilliana’s journal
depicting her memories from childhood.
Anyone who has dealt with the pain a family suffers with an alcoholic parent will
appreciate the way Goldner weaves in the complex feelings of daughter and father. We
see Calvin’s physical pain, his depression at not finding or keeping a job, and his feeling of
helplessness as he gambles away what money he does make and sees himself
mistreating the children from his own frustration. Perhaps most touching is the flashback
to Calvin’s youth when he whittled toys for his younger siblings only to have his father
sell them to get money for booze.
As the two come to understand each other and appreciate each other, the reader
realizes hope for a happy ending is just asking too much. but both characters realize
that the two weeks getting to know each other has been some of the happiest time of their
lives.
Goldner includes the hospital ambiance, sounds and smells, that increase the
tension on family members waiting for news. Missing Pieces, though relatively short,
brings depth of character and richness of setting. Even her epilogue picks an incident
from her child hood to contrast to the modern time, sewing up a perfect conclusion.
April 24, 2019
I am a huge fan of Susan Clayton-Goldner and especially of the Detective Radhauser series. So, this book was a bit of a deviation. As such, I wasn’t sure what to expect as I got into it. What I discovered was a book about family dysfunction to such an extreme that it caused my heart to cry out in pain for Lillianna. The devastation of how war can change a man and how that man can take his pain and bring even more pain to more people, specifically those he loves (his family).
Add to this the vulnerability of a small child who is supposed to be nurtured, developed and loved in a caring family and instead drop her or him into a dysfunctional, abusive, substance abusive family and you have the recipe for disaster. So, what does a child do? They develop coping mechanisms to deal with the pain and turmoil and allow them to survive until they can move out.
So, Lillianna, takes this to an extreme. She moves out when possible, changes her name, moves 1,000’s of miles away and disassociates herself from that family. She creates a new loving family of her own where she can help her own kids grow up differently.
But then reality sets in. Her father is dying, he is in the hospital and her brother contacts her and tells her that she needs to come home, see her dad, deal with the past and say goodbye. That is much easier said than done. The practical aspect of coming home and dealing with issues is not easy.
The book revolves around the drama of that coming home, around the drama of a daughter and father trying to come to terms with their past and now the present. Can there be healing? Can there be hope? Can there be love renewed? Those are questions that Lilliana must answer as she comes back.
With so many dysfunctional families in America today this book provides a great storyline that can bring healing and hope. As you read, don’t just read for entertainment and a good story, but read to learn, to learn what it means to forgive, what it means to confront truth, what it means to take the past and develop a new and better future. Think through the lessons that you can learn from this novel.
Thank you Susan for sharing your heart about a subject that is difficult for many people.
Add to this the vulnerability of a small child who is supposed to be nurtured, developed and loved in a caring family and instead drop her or him into a dysfunctional, abusive, substance abusive family and you have the recipe for disaster. So, what does a child do? They develop coping mechanisms to deal with the pain and turmoil and allow them to survive until they can move out.
So, Lillianna, takes this to an extreme. She moves out when possible, changes her name, moves 1,000’s of miles away and disassociates herself from that family. She creates a new loving family of her own where she can help her own kids grow up differently.
But then reality sets in. Her father is dying, he is in the hospital and her brother contacts her and tells her that she needs to come home, see her dad, deal with the past and say goodbye. That is much easier said than done. The practical aspect of coming home and dealing with issues is not easy.
The book revolves around the drama of that coming home, around the drama of a daughter and father trying to come to terms with their past and now the present. Can there be healing? Can there be hope? Can there be love renewed? Those are questions that Lilliana must answer as she comes back.
With so many dysfunctional families in America today this book provides a great storyline that can bring healing and hope. As you read, don’t just read for entertainment and a good story, but read to learn, to learn what it means to forgive, what it means to confront truth, what it means to take the past and develop a new and better future. Think through the lessons that you can learn from this novel.
Thank you Susan for sharing your heart about a subject that is difficult for many people.
April 18, 2019
Wow!!!! A must read for everyone!!!! Beware, it will make you rethink your life!!!
Do not judge a book by its cover. There is a morale in every story. There are at least two sides to every story. Fiction lies to a greater truth (Susan Clayton-Goldner). Things are not always as they seem.
This is a hard review to write for me. What to say and not give the story a way. You have a difficult relationship with a family member, needs surgery to save life but has other medical issue that is interfering. Ask to come see this family member to help by other family member. The family member is a veteran who is determined (as all veterans are) to not lose leg after all this time. The important part is what happens while at the hospital and learning about each other,also coming to realizations that some things are not what they seem.Learn about yourself. See the world from someone else's eyes and experiences.
I admit I put off reading this book to last minute. Why? The email that introduce this book had at the beginning something about a WWll veteran. Being a veteran myself, I knew, so did not read the email because I did not want to be influenced. I just read the whole email and found out that this story is based on a similar real life event in the author's life. I am Glad you got to have this journey, Susan. If only we all could have an eye opening experience like this. Makes you look at the world differently.
Beware, that you are in a very very happy place when you read this book. Guarantee to trigger you somewhere along the line. Military, veteran, alcohol, abuse, family.
I will say that in my opinion three years in a hospital doing recovery from military injury and being given morphine for pain is not unusual and I believe leads to the drinking issues. When I was active duty, the DOD was reducing the use of morphine because of the addictive issues. Now the trend is going back to opioids for chronic pain. Not for me!!!!
This is my honest and freely given review. I did receive an ARC book.
Do not judge a book by its cover. There is a morale in every story. There are at least two sides to every story. Fiction lies to a greater truth (Susan Clayton-Goldner). Things are not always as they seem.
This is a hard review to write for me. What to say and not give the story a way. You have a difficult relationship with a family member, needs surgery to save life but has other medical issue that is interfering. Ask to come see this family member to help by other family member. The family member is a veteran who is determined (as all veterans are) to not lose leg after all this time. The important part is what happens while at the hospital and learning about each other,also coming to realizations that some things are not what they seem.Learn about yourself. See the world from someone else's eyes and experiences.
I admit I put off reading this book to last minute. Why? The email that introduce this book had at the beginning something about a WWll veteran. Being a veteran myself, I knew, so did not read the email because I did not want to be influenced. I just read the whole email and found out that this story is based on a similar real life event in the author's life. I am Glad you got to have this journey, Susan. If only we all could have an eye opening experience like this. Makes you look at the world differently.
Beware, that you are in a very very happy place when you read this book. Guarantee to trigger you somewhere along the line. Military, veteran, alcohol, abuse, family.
I will say that in my opinion three years in a hospital doing recovery from military injury and being given morphine for pain is not unusual and I believe leads to the drinking issues. When I was active duty, the DOD was reducing the use of morphine because of the addictive issues. Now the trend is going back to opioids for chronic pain. Not for me!!!!
This is my honest and freely given review. I did receive an ARC book.
March 15, 2019
Missing Pieces tells a story of a family broken apart by alcoholism and abuse over several generations. Lillianna/Emma is asked by her brother to come see her estranged father as he is hospitalized with a life threatening condition. Lillianna has not seen her family for 20 years and with soul searching does decide to visit her father. Over the 2 weeks’ time she spends daily visiting her father in the hospital, she keeps a detailed notebook of his life, that she has asked him to tell her about. The book covers the depression days our country experienced, World War Two and the years after. The author is able to have Lillianna look deeply into her heart to see her father in a different light and look at herself closely.
There are many times in this book when you want to cry on how Cal handles his childhood with his father and how Lillianna deals with her failed marriage and her childhood memories of her dad being drunk much of the time and abusing her family. A quote from this book really hit home with me: “We are all visitors on earth for a short time and we have to love what we have in our lives. A person has to fight off the evil that sometimes comes, or grows inside if life deals him a hard blow”.
This book really has you thinking about PTSD and how hard it is for so many men and women that have been in the military and have seen or dealt with lots of things come back from war and try to lead a “normal” life again. Cal is shown to have a strong constitution and has overcome many obstacles thrown at him. He is allowed to have surgery the way he wants, with both his legs, strongly refusing the amputation of his one leg the surgeon wants him to have.
The books ending is bittersweet, but you feel Lillianna has found peace within herself and has a better understanding of the man who is her father that she tried to get away from 20 years previously.
This is such a well written story that many people can see familiarities in their own lives.
I received an advanced reader copy of this book, and my opinions are my own.
There are many times in this book when you want to cry on how Cal handles his childhood with his father and how Lillianna deals with her failed marriage and her childhood memories of her dad being drunk much of the time and abusing her family. A quote from this book really hit home with me: “We are all visitors on earth for a short time and we have to love what we have in our lives. A person has to fight off the evil that sometimes comes, or grows inside if life deals him a hard blow”.
This book really has you thinking about PTSD and how hard it is for so many men and women that have been in the military and have seen or dealt with lots of things come back from war and try to lead a “normal” life again. Cal is shown to have a strong constitution and has overcome many obstacles thrown at him. He is allowed to have surgery the way he wants, with both his legs, strongly refusing the amputation of his one leg the surgeon wants him to have.
The books ending is bittersweet, but you feel Lillianna has found peace within herself and has a better understanding of the man who is her father that she tried to get away from 20 years previously.
This is such a well written story that many people can see familiarities in their own lives.
I received an advanced reader copy of this book, and my opinions are my own.
March 21, 2019
Susan Clayton-Goldner’s latest novel, Missing Pieces, explores a familiar theme of hers, a young girl forced to revisit a horrendous childhood and a flawed father, hopefully to heal lifetime trauma suffered at a young age. Unlike her other stories, this one is unabashedly the story of her real father, Walter Hamm. Details have been shifted to create a fictional world without a sense of voyeurism.
Clearly-marked headings shift the story from 1995, to Lillianna’s/Emma's childhood years of 1953-55, and her father’s childhood years of the 1930s, to his struggles during the war years of the 1940s as generational pain repeats itself. His past may help her understand his actions—if she can allow herself to feel compassion rather than anger—but the ending isn’t a given. How Lillianna deals with remembered childhood becomes the theme that will lead readers to reflect on their own pasts. Few of us can claim a perfect childhood; few of us can claim to be without sin as a parent. But whether we throw the first rock at someone else is a choice that we, like Lillianna/Emma must make. Lillianna/Emma, has held her pain inside until it threatens to choke her humanity with a rope of self-righteousness. The author weaves her protagonists’ journey with a masterful hand while maintaining their human failings. We are Lillianna and she is us.
The story pulls the reader into a melancholy reflection that leaves us better for the journey. I am touched by the author's honesty and the obvious depth of suffering that allows her to portray fragile-yet-strong characters with insight and compassion. By the end of the story we may feel that the real antagonist is the failure inside us to forgive. Well worth the read.
April 14, 2019
Missing Pieces by Susan Clayton-Goldner
Heartfelt and heart-wrenching this story tells of woman that ran from her abusive childhood to take up a new name and life across the continent. Why she has done so becomes clear slowly as the story unfolds. She is NOT willing to head back to her father’s side to help him deal with major medical issues but in the end decides to return – not for her father but to help her brother who has been there for their father while she has been away. What she finds when she arrives is not the father of her memories, though those memories still manage to haunt her. As she spends time with her father she learns more of his past, how he was raised, how he made his living, how he met her mother and how he came by the injury that so changed his life and the lives of those around him. As she listens she also realizes some home truths about herself AND sees some of her past memories in a bit different light, too. This not an easy read but in my opinion the story was told well and with compassion for all of the characters in the story. What I thought going into the story changed as I read and learned more about both Lilliana and her father and what happened to make them the people they were.
Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.
5 Stars
Heartfelt and heart-wrenching this story tells of woman that ran from her abusive childhood to take up a new name and life across the continent. Why she has done so becomes clear slowly as the story unfolds. She is NOT willing to head back to her father’s side to help him deal with major medical issues but in the end decides to return – not for her father but to help her brother who has been there for their father while she has been away. What she finds when she arrives is not the father of her memories, though those memories still manage to haunt her. As she spends time with her father she learns more of his past, how he was raised, how he made his living, how he met her mother and how he came by the injury that so changed his life and the lives of those around him. As she listens she also realizes some home truths about herself AND sees some of her past memories in a bit different light, too. This not an easy read but in my opinion the story was told well and with compassion for all of the characters in the story. What I thought going into the story changed as I read and learned more about both Lilliana and her father and what happened to make them the people they were.
Thank you to the author for the ARC – This is my honest review.
5 Stars
March 15, 2019
Missing Pieces by Susan Clayton Goldner is yet another emotional magnet that will pull you in from the first page and hold you tight until its end. It’s a story of a little girl trying desperately to put her horrible childhood behind her by growing up with a whole new identity. The only problem is that she eventually has to face her past in reconnecting with the father behind it all. As her father is in the hospital faced with making health related decisions which may lead to his death, Lillianna had agreed to her brother’s request to return and try to reason with their father. Little did she know however that in doing so she would eventually reconnect with him in a way she never imagined possible. As Susan is so adept at doing, she gives the readers several novels in one with her multiple storylines. By Lillianna’s father reflecting on his life in a series of stories of his past he tells her, we see both how life chose to mold him into the person he became as well the affect it all had on Lillianna and those around her. The story is an emotional ride that you will not soon forget. Again I implore you all to give this book a read...as always I am convinced you will not regret doing so.
March 14, 2019
I was given an advance copy of this book for a review as I have read all of Susan's books. This one just blew me away. Susan has done an excellent job of telling her story! It awakened feelings and memories in me and I am rethinking my relationship with my father who also used alcohol to mask his failings and feelings in life. For me, I could relate to all of Emma's feelings and know the pain and frustration in dealing with a dual personality father who is fun, kind and loving and then becomes a monster when he drinks. Emma was given the privilege of being with her father and getting to hear and know what was in his mind and his heart and what drove him to such hurtful things in their lives.
I never had that chance so this story is making me relive my fears and memories and rethinking the pain and baggage that I carry. I think everyone who reads this book will love the honesty and pain that Susan deals with. You owe it to yourself to read Missing Pieces.
I never had that chance so this story is making me relive my fears and memories and rethinking the pain and baggage that I carry. I think everyone who reads this book will love the honesty and pain that Susan deals with. You owe it to yourself to read Missing Pieces.
April 7, 2019
This is a wonderful book about the healing power of just talking honestly to each other.
Lilliana Ferguson grew up fearing her father who sometimes drank too much and sometimes struck her and her brother. After her mother’s death, she moved far away changed her name, and married for a second time, and tried to pretend she no longer had a father.
Then her brother calls to tell her their father is possibly dying of an aortic aneurysm and asks her to come to visit him and try to get him to agree to have the leg that was injured years ago in a grenade accident and has been infected ever since amputated. Reluctantly Lilliana agrees to go, but she doesn’t see how it will help and doesn’t even know how she will stand to be in the same room with him.
Lilliana is a writer and comes up with the idea of having her father tell her his stories, which she will attempt to put into written form for sharing with the family.
The story he tells her is not one she would have expected and doesn’t correspond very closely with what she thought she knew about him. Ultimately, Lilliana comes to understand, not only her father but also herself in ways she had never thought possible before.
Thanks to the author for a free copy of this book for review.
Lilliana Ferguson grew up fearing her father who sometimes drank too much and sometimes struck her and her brother. After her mother’s death, she moved far away changed her name, and married for a second time, and tried to pretend she no longer had a father.
Then her brother calls to tell her their father is possibly dying of an aortic aneurysm and asks her to come to visit him and try to get him to agree to have the leg that was injured years ago in a grenade accident and has been infected ever since amputated. Reluctantly Lilliana agrees to go, but she doesn’t see how it will help and doesn’t even know how she will stand to be in the same room with him.
Lilliana is a writer and comes up with the idea of having her father tell her his stories, which she will attempt to put into written form for sharing with the family.
The story he tells her is not one she would have expected and doesn’t correspond very closely with what she thought she knew about him. Ultimately, Lilliana comes to understand, not only her father but also herself in ways she had never thought possible before.
Thanks to the author for a free copy of this book for review.
March 26, 2019
I received a copy of this book in return for an honest and unbiased review.
What an extraordinary story about alcoholism and the destruction that it can do to a family. I hope all the readers who have experienced the family dynamics that is portrayed in this story will get a chance to read this book and that it will give them some understanding about themselves. I like the way that she interwove the past and present throughout the book. I couldn’t put the book down; Susan has written another outstanding book. Her honesty and heartfelt emotions are very real in this book.
Another must-read book from an outstanding author!!
What an extraordinary story about alcoholism and the destruction that it can do to a family. I hope all the readers who have experienced the family dynamics that is portrayed in this story will get a chance to read this book and that it will give them some understanding about themselves. I like the way that she interwove the past and present throughout the book. I couldn’t put the book down; Susan has written another outstanding book. Her honesty and heartfelt emotions are very real in this book.
Another must-read book from an outstanding author!!
April 7, 2019
If you've never read a book by Susan Clayton Goldner you're missing out. She was always one of my favorite authors but this story puts her in a class by herself in my eyes. Such a beautiful, touching well written story. It's about a woman named Lilianna who grows up (in what she chooses to remember) with an alcoholic and sometimes abusive father. After her mothers passing she decides to leave her past behind and start over fresh with a new life. When her brother calls one day and asks her to come back and help convince their father to have surgery or lose his life, she reluctantly returns. Day after day as she listens to his stories from the past she realizes she never really knew her father or the struggles he went through. Or just how similar their lives ended up. It takes you on their journey to forgiveness and understanding. The lesson we can all learn and strive to keep is that there are always two sides to every story and unless we've walked in their "shoes" or know their past struggles we should never jump to any conclusion. This story is a must read for everyone.
March 14, 2019
A sweet, touching, sometimes heart-wrenching story. A girl who grows up estranged from her abusive, alcoholic father goes back home 20 years later to take care of him. Secrets, stories, lies and the truth emerge. Feelings get hurt, feelings get mended. Lillianna/Emma discovers what she thought and how she felt her whole life was not how things really were. The reasons why is what makes the difference. I think we all go through that to some degree. What happens in the end it's all that matters. Highly recommend!
March 12, 2019
The beginning of the book brought tears to my eyes..
This book reminded me of my father and our love hate relationship.
It wasn't until after his death that I asked for forgiveness for how I felt.
I was then able to forgive but not forget.
The storyline was thought provoking and Susan Clayton-Goldner brings us a compassionate story filled with larger than life.
The ending brings a joy to the soul.
This book is recommended for those who love to fiction with a strong inspirational message.
This book reminded me of my father and our love hate relationship.
It wasn't until after his death that I asked for forgiveness for how I felt.
I was then able to forgive but not forget.
The storyline was thought provoking and Susan Clayton-Goldner brings us a compassionate story filled with larger than life.
The ending brings a joy to the soul.
This book is recommended for those who love to fiction with a strong inspirational message.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 12, 2019
Review of the novel Missing Pieces by Susan Clayton-Goldner
From the touching cover art through the gripping reveal of Lillianna's father, this is a story that touches all areas of the heart.
It is one thing to view PTSD through the eyes of a soldier, but a whole other world when told through the eyes of a daughter who lived the abusive years that frequently accompany a wounded body and spirit. This is a tragedy and yet a beacon of hope to offer to all who have suffered under the plague of hopelessness and anger that comes home with so many warriors. This is also a tale of healing and a tale of love well told and worth a second read.
From the touching cover art through the gripping reveal of Lillianna's father, this is a story that touches all areas of the heart.
It is one thing to view PTSD through the eyes of a soldier, but a whole other world when told through the eyes of a daughter who lived the abusive years that frequently accompany a wounded body and spirit. This is a tragedy and yet a beacon of hope to offer to all who have suffered under the plague of hopelessness and anger that comes home with so many warriors. This is also a tale of healing and a tale of love well told and worth a second read.
April 8, 2019
Have your tissues ready!!! It is an Emotional Read!!! Beautifully written just like all of Susan Clayton-Goldner books! Can't wait for her next book to comes out! I am not going to spoil your fun telling you about it...you have to read this one!!
March 24, 2019
A JOURNEY TOWARD LOVE AND FORGIVENESS
MISSING PIECES is a stand-alone advanced reader copy compliments of the author, Susan Clayton-Goldner. My opinions are my own. I accept very few reader copies from authors, but Goldner's books are so well-written that I can't resist her latest offering.
This is a compelling story about a young woman who is abused by her drunken father. Her angst and bitterness toward him is so strong she changes her name from Emma to Lillianna and moves from Delaware to Oregon, putting over 2-thousand miles between her and the father she pretends is dead. She builds, what she thinks is, a rich and fulfilling life for herself with a devoted husband and family of her own.
Twenty years later her brother calls to ask that she return home to console, and hopefully reconcile, with her crippled and aging father who is hospitalized. Her husband encourages her to go; she boards a plane with a suitcase filled with reservations and a journal full of blank pages.
This story is a true journey of daughter and father going back in time to rehash their family history and to unearth the hurt and misunderstandings that cut so deeply to tear the family apart.
Prepare yourself for an emotional roller coaster as history unfolds, and as Emma/Lillianna is re-introduced to her, now, sober father and her loyal and understanding extended family. MISSING PIECES brought a lump to my throat that didn’t go away until I finished the last page.
The book could have been edited/cut down as there were many unnecessary repeats. I also thought Lillianna was a bit narcissistic or immature. Perhaps this is the result of an abused child, of that I’m far from being an expert, but she certainly spent a lot of time twirling in her own thoughts and analyzing her point of view. Neither of these negatives effected the quality of Goldner’s subject, writing or the four stars MISSING PIECES so richly deserves. I’m pleased to have shared this journey with Emma and her father, Calvin.
Cynthia Cooks/Author
MISSING PIECES is a stand-alone advanced reader copy compliments of the author, Susan Clayton-Goldner. My opinions are my own. I accept very few reader copies from authors, but Goldner's books are so well-written that I can't resist her latest offering.
This is a compelling story about a young woman who is abused by her drunken father. Her angst and bitterness toward him is so strong she changes her name from Emma to Lillianna and moves from Delaware to Oregon, putting over 2-thousand miles between her and the father she pretends is dead. She builds, what she thinks is, a rich and fulfilling life for herself with a devoted husband and family of her own.
Twenty years later her brother calls to ask that she return home to console, and hopefully reconcile, with her crippled and aging father who is hospitalized. Her husband encourages her to go; she boards a plane with a suitcase filled with reservations and a journal full of blank pages.
This story is a true journey of daughter and father going back in time to rehash their family history and to unearth the hurt and misunderstandings that cut so deeply to tear the family apart.
Prepare yourself for an emotional roller coaster as history unfolds, and as Emma/Lillianna is re-introduced to her, now, sober father and her loyal and understanding extended family. MISSING PIECES brought a lump to my throat that didn’t go away until I finished the last page.
The book could have been edited/cut down as there were many unnecessary repeats. I also thought Lillianna was a bit narcissistic or immature. Perhaps this is the result of an abused child, of that I’m far from being an expert, but she certainly spent a lot of time twirling in her own thoughts and analyzing her point of view. Neither of these negatives effected the quality of Goldner’s subject, writing or the four stars MISSING PIECES so richly deserves. I’m pleased to have shared this journey with Emma and her father, Calvin.
Cynthia Cooks/Author
April 19, 2019
Yes, the reviews are spot on! This book is a wonderful depiction of a family in so much pain. The love of a beautiful mother and the pain of a father that is angry and in physical and mental pain and self medicates. All he sees for his future is to be a burden on his wife and children. His skills as a carpenter are gone. He, in his mind a failure. Instead of finding help he takes his pain out on his family.
I think about the story and wish my family could have been there to save them. I believe families in pain are so very cleaver on hiding it. Ashamed, embarrassed, disappointed on what they are living through. Hearing stories from your friends as a small child on what a perfect family is supposed to be like must have been even more painful. Not being able to scream for help. I am so very sorry for the author and her family. I hope life now from this book brings her peace and forgiveness. Please keep writing your stories they are captivating. Thank you Susan.
I think about the story and wish my family could have been there to save them. I believe families in pain are so very cleaver on hiding it. Ashamed, embarrassed, disappointed on what they are living through. Hearing stories from your friends as a small child on what a perfect family is supposed to be like must have been even more painful. Not being able to scream for help. I am so very sorry for the author and her family. I hope life now from this book brings her peace and forgiveness. Please keep writing your stories they are captivating. Thank you Susan.
March 31, 2019
Missing Pieces by Susan Clayton Goldner
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Missing Pieces was a difficult book to read especially in certain parts because of such detailed, descriptive child abuse including the emotional trauma. The writing was so excellent, the reader could really visualize what was happening and the terror these children faced. It made me wonder if this author had experienced something similar. I liked the way the author went back and forth between three generations so the reader could truly understand the roots of what happened and why to this family. This book shows how a family can become whole again through forgiveness and true acceptance of the past.
I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Missing Pieces was a difficult book to read especially in certain parts because of such detailed, descriptive child abuse including the emotional trauma. The writing was so excellent, the reader could really visualize what was happening and the terror these children faced. It made me wonder if this author had experienced something similar. I liked the way the author went back and forth between three generations so the reader could truly understand the roots of what happened and why to this family. This book shows how a family can become whole again through forgiveness and true acceptance of the past.
March 22, 2019
Powerfully Poignant
Missing pieces by Susan Clayton Goldner will release on 4/17/19. I was given an advance copy and am voluntarily writing a review. On a 5 star scale this book is 10 stars. It is just that good!
I was reminded how powerful forgiveness is as well as how easily the human spirit can be broken. Cassandra and Cal's love for each other could withstand the many traumas they experienced. In the case of their children, Greg understood his dad's anguish and alcoholism but Emma struggled with forgiveness for more than fifty years.
A whole new outlook on life and spirit embraced fragile Emma once she spent time listening to her dad tell the story of his life with her mother, WWII and their family life from his perspective as he lay in his hospital bed.
She experienced an overwhelming change in attitude and developed a strong respect and love for her, now sober, father. The upcoming aortic aneurysm repair and potential loss of osteomyelitic leg became secondary when Emma and Cal relived his story. The ending is a bit different than expected but justly honors the elder protagonists.
Missing pieces by Susan Clayton Goldner will release on 4/17/19. I was given an advance copy and am voluntarily writing a review. On a 5 star scale this book is 10 stars. It is just that good!
I was reminded how powerful forgiveness is as well as how easily the human spirit can be broken. Cassandra and Cal's love for each other could withstand the many traumas they experienced. In the case of their children, Greg understood his dad's anguish and alcoholism but Emma struggled with forgiveness for more than fifty years.
A whole new outlook on life and spirit embraced fragile Emma once she spent time listening to her dad tell the story of his life with her mother, WWII and their family life from his perspective as he lay in his hospital bed.
She experienced an overwhelming change in attitude and developed a strong respect and love for her, now sober, father. The upcoming aortic aneurysm repair and potential loss of osteomyelitic leg became secondary when Emma and Cal relived his story. The ending is a bit different than expected but justly honors the elder protagonists.
March 27, 2019
Wow, just wow! I waited a couple of days to write my review because I just didn't have words for the marvel of this story, especially the superb way it was written and handled! I was SO impressed by the creativity before I learned that it was based on the author's own family and experiences but absolutely blown away to discover that it was such a personal story. So many lessons to be learned from one family's sorrows and tragedies but, to me, the big one was "forgiveness".
Throughout, I was continuously grateful for my happy childhood and the loving home I was blessed to grow up in. Kudos to Ms. Clayton-Goldner for making something wonderful out of her life and, also, for having the courage to tell her story! I would like to have met "Cal".
Highly recommend this book!
Throughout, I was continuously grateful for my happy childhood and the loving home I was blessed to grow up in. Kudos to Ms. Clayton-Goldner for making something wonderful out of her life and, also, for having the courage to tell her story! I would like to have met "Cal".
Highly recommend this book!
March 20, 2019
Missing Pieces was not what a normally read but I loved it. It was a very touching story that exposes how someone should look beyond just the acts of another before judging and also look into yourself before locking someone out based on the actions. Lillianna learns more about her father who she has shut out of her life for the past twenty years because he was a mean drunk of a father. After her mother's death she walks away and never looks back at her father again but is that really possible? Can you really forge your past and not have it leave an even bigger hole in your heart, emotions, and life?
I found myself thinking about my own life and even though I never left my parents' sides, I also never had them tell me their stories. I hope everyone reads this and looks to find out more of their family stories so they can learn more about where their family really came from and what they experienced that led to their choices in life.
I found myself thinking about my own life and even though I never left my parents' sides, I also never had them tell me their stories. I hope everyone reads this and looks to find out more of their family stories so they can learn more about where their family really came from and what they experienced that led to their choices in life.
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