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An Empty Nest: A Summer of Stories
Her kids are gone.
Her husband is gone.
She is slammed by an unexpected grief after her daughter moves out. This is why, relocating from her small messy apartment in the city sounds like a reasonable thing to do.
But can living with her sisters at the cottage be a good idea?
As she grapples with encroaching woodland creatures, one middle-aged woman encounters ghosts from her past including alcoholism, sibling abuse, and her father’s death.
Amid a summer of thunderstorms, noisy cottage renters, and the clamor of birdsong, can a reckoning with her sisters unfold?
You’ll love this poignant short read because it will make you laugh and it will make you cry as it fearlessly portrays life beyond the empty nest.
Get your copy now.
Her husband is gone.
She is slammed by an unexpected grief after her daughter moves out. This is why, relocating from her small messy apartment in the city sounds like a reasonable thing to do.
But can living with her sisters at the cottage be a good idea?
As she grapples with encroaching woodland creatures, one middle-aged woman encounters ghosts from her past including alcoholism, sibling abuse, and her father’s death.
Amid a summer of thunderstorms, noisy cottage renters, and the clamor of birdsong, can a reckoning with her sisters unfold?
You’ll love this poignant short read because it will make you laugh and it will make you cry as it fearlessly portrays life beyond the empty nest.
Get your copy now.
95 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 5, 2019
3 people are currently reading
6 people want to read
About the author
Sandy Day
6 books38 followersSandy Day is a recovering chatterbox and writer of riveting poetry, memoir, and fiction. She has authored six books to date, with two in the works. A lover of cheese, coffee shops, and illustrations, she lives on the shore of lovely Lake Simcoe in Georgina, Ontario, Canada. You can find and follow her on sandyday.ca - it rhymes! She also hangs out on Substack.
Sandy's author website https://sandyday.ca/
Sandy's Substack https://sandydayauthor.substack.com/
Sandy's Amazon page https://www.amazon.com/author/sandyday
Sandy's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sandeesnaps/
Sandy's Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SandyDayWriter
Sandy's author website https://sandyday.ca/
Sandy's Substack https://sandydayauthor.substack.com/
Sandy's Amazon page https://www.amazon.com/author/sandyday
Sandy's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sandeesnaps/
Sandy's Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SandyDayWriter
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 30, 2019
An Empty Nest is a series of short snapshots that all link to several months in the narrator's life.
Suffering from the empty nest syndrome, the main character plans to make a move from a city apartment to a lakeside cottage. Her life is reversing; with her children and husband gone, she plans to spend the summer sharing a cottage with her sisters, then finally moving to be with her mother. Throughout the stories there is a process of shedding the past and embracing the future. As you join the narrator on her journey there is definitely a sense of metamorphosis at a poignant time in her life.
See here for full review https://wp.me/p2Eu3u-eFB
Suffering from the empty nest syndrome, the main character plans to make a move from a city apartment to a lakeside cottage. Her life is reversing; with her children and husband gone, she plans to spend the summer sharing a cottage with her sisters, then finally moving to be with her mother. Throughout the stories there is a process of shedding the past and embracing the future. As you join the narrator on her journey there is definitely a sense of metamorphosis at a poignant time in her life.
See here for full review https://wp.me/p2Eu3u-eFB
June 1, 2019
An Empty Nest is the second novel that I have been honored to review by author Sandy Day. This piece is like a series of sketches put together by an author to represent one complete picture. you are served snapshots from the protagonist’s life whether it is of memories from her past as a child to glimpses of what the second half of her life looks like.
Her children have moved out and on with their lives as has her ex-husband. The children, namely her eldest daughter, saffron, worry about her and try to fill the void with pets they promise to assist caring for but continuously fail at. Her sisters are checkered throughout her story as they and her parents undoubtedly influenced her life and though the sisters are different they all join together in the end for their next stage residing in a cottage near their mother.
There is a theme of both letting go and acceptance in this novel though every micro chapter is so subtle in nature. Day has a way with words, with creating a tone and picture, that carries such potency and depth in what others would see as mundane. I felt more than a connection to this character. I felt like we were one and the same. This could be me and it didn’t feel cautionary. just a very real future that we all inevitably, in some capacity, will have to face.
An Empty Nest is a cohesive collection of snapshots that humbles and gets you to reflect on your OWN life-where it has been and where it is going. we are all composed Of a million tiny pieces. Those pieces all together make us whole.
Splendid read!
Her children have moved out and on with their lives as has her ex-husband. The children, namely her eldest daughter, saffron, worry about her and try to fill the void with pets they promise to assist caring for but continuously fail at. Her sisters are checkered throughout her story as they and her parents undoubtedly influenced her life and though the sisters are different they all join together in the end for their next stage residing in a cottage near their mother.
There is a theme of both letting go and acceptance in this novel though every micro chapter is so subtle in nature. Day has a way with words, with creating a tone and picture, that carries such potency and depth in what others would see as mundane. I felt more than a connection to this character. I felt like we were one and the same. This could be me and it didn’t feel cautionary. just a very real future that we all inevitably, in some capacity, will have to face.
An Empty Nest is a cohesive collection of snapshots that humbles and gets you to reflect on your OWN life-where it has been and where it is going. we are all composed Of a million tiny pieces. Those pieces all together make us whole.
Splendid read!
June 10, 2019
“Why is it easier to remember the meanness of my childhood than the blandness?”
A woman in her mid-50s is facing a life alone. Newly divorced with children living with their father, she has an empty nest and in the quiet, her mind fills with thoughts. She lives in an apartment with a cat, but can’t seem to find a way to grasp life fully. She decides to move in with her sisters to a family cottage for the summer and try to find some focus in life.
I have reviewed Sandy Day’s book, Fred’s Funeral, and she contacted me about reading and reviewing her newest book. An Empty Nest is a collection of short essays detailing one woman’s summer during a hard time in her life.
Each short chapter in the book tells part of the woman’s story – either past or current life. She explores why her marriage fell apart, how her sisters interact with each other and how she’s lost touch with her children. The reader can feel her sense of detachment from life. As the book unfolds and the relationships with her sisters become stronger, you can sense her finding her peace.
An Empty Nest is a short, thoughtful read about dealing with loss and finding the strength to find a new way ahead in life. Readers looking for an interesting summer read will enjoy this book.
Read more here: https://sarahannecarter.com/an-empty-...
A woman in her mid-50s is facing a life alone. Newly divorced with children living with their father, she has an empty nest and in the quiet, her mind fills with thoughts. She lives in an apartment with a cat, but can’t seem to find a way to grasp life fully. She decides to move in with her sisters to a family cottage for the summer and try to find some focus in life.
I have reviewed Sandy Day’s book, Fred’s Funeral, and she contacted me about reading and reviewing her newest book. An Empty Nest is a collection of short essays detailing one woman’s summer during a hard time in her life.
Each short chapter in the book tells part of the woman’s story – either past or current life. She explores why her marriage fell apart, how her sisters interact with each other and how she’s lost touch with her children. The reader can feel her sense of detachment from life. As the book unfolds and the relationships with her sisters become stronger, you can sense her finding her peace.
An Empty Nest is a short, thoughtful read about dealing with loss and finding the strength to find a new way ahead in life. Readers looking for an interesting summer read will enjoy this book.
Read more here: https://sarahannecarter.com/an-empty-...
January 22, 2020
Small vignettes from a middle aged woman, honest and poignant.
The writing is spare and evocative, the images striking.
The writing is spare and evocative, the images striking.
April 28, 2020
Overall, I liked the writing. Some stories were better than others.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews