Remembrance

by Mary Monroe

In this moving, unforgettable novel from New York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe, a successful, happily married mother suddenly finds herself feeling far from joyful. But Christmas brings an unexpected chance to rediscover herself, and what happiness really means...

For Beatrice Powell, the holidays are usually an extra-special time to celebrate. With her twenty-year-plus marriage, beautiful home, and three wonderful adult children, she has everything she could desire. But change-of-life doubts are making Beatrice a stranger to herself and her bewildered family. She only finds peace volunteering at the local soup kitchen, especially helping out homeless Charles Davenport. And his sensitivity and honesty soon comfort her in ways she never imagined...

Charles thought he had it all--until a devastating betrayal and the shattering loss of his family drove him to living on the streets. Beatrice is the first person who's truly cared about him in a long time. And little by little, he's finding reasons to care about rebuilding his life--and risking a sudden, courageous choice...

Drawn to Charles and the temptation of a second chance, Beatrice is faced with the hardest of decisions. But his insight, secrets--and the reminder of a profound past encounter--will give her unexpected inspiration, gratitude, and the strength she needs to find her way...perhaps in time for Christmas.

"Mary Monroe is an exceptional writer and phenomenal storyteller!"
--Kimberla Lawson Roby, New York Times Bestselling Author

Genres: Christmas, Fiction, Adult, Womens Fiction, Audiobook, Chick Lit

208 pages, Paperback

Published October 27, 2020

About the author

I am the third child of Alabama sharecroppers and the first and only member of my family to finish high school. I never attended college or any writing classes. I taught myself how to write and started writing short stories around age four. I spent the first part of my life in Alabama and Ohio and moved to Richmond, California in 1973. I have lived in Oakland since 1984.

My first novel THE UPPER ROOM was published by St. Martin's Press in 1985 and was widely reviewed throughout the U.S. and in Great Britain. An excerpt is included in Terry McMillan's anthology BREAKING ICE. I endured fifteen years and hundreds of more rejection letters before I landed a contract for my second novel, GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY. It was published in October 2000 by Kensington Books. GOD DON'T PLAY is my seventh novel to be published, and it landed me a spot on the prestigious New York Times Bestsellers list for the first time! My eighth novel, "BORROW TROUBLE," was released December 2006. My ninth novel, DELIVER ME FROM EVIL, was released September 2007 and my tenth novel, SHE HAD IT COMING, was released in September 2008, and my eleventh novel THE COMPANY WE KEEP, will be released March 2009.

I won the Oakland Pen Award for Best Fiction of the Year in 2001 for GOD DON'T LIKE UGLY. I won the Best Southern Author Award for GONNA LAY DOWN MY BURDENS, in 2004.

I am divorced, I love to travel, I love to mingle with other authors, and I love to read anything by Ernest Gaines, Stephen King, Alice Walker, and James Patterson. I still write seven days a week and I get most of my ideas from current events, the people around me, but most of my material is autobiographical.

Reviews

[Colleen Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short read, but so worth it.

[Yaritza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, my emotions are every where. A book i will remember forever. I am left speechless with this moving story. Kidness and listening truly make a difference to others who need it the most. This story makes you feel so much emotions, compassion, strength, care and hopefulness. Beatrice had an unforgettable accident that occurred 25 years before. She wanted to thank the person who saved her life, but never found the person. A Christmas miracle truly left peace, love and happiness at its wake. Beatrice is that one person we all need to stop and talk with. She is kind, caring and has the right words to lift your spirits. Overall this is a captivating story that will fill your heart with joy, love and Christmas miracles. Love and peace to all!!

[Tip Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a short, sweet and light read. I really enjoyed this book. I'm glad I didn't go by some of the reviews. This book made me see the simple, loving and beautiful disguises God throws us to make us see just how blessed we are. Yeah I know this book is fiction but every fiction has some truth in it.

[Hannah (needonemorechapter) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I rarely DNF books, even if I don’t like them. But I made it through 50% of this and just couldn’t continue. It was. So. Bad. The writing was…not good. The characters were so flat and uninteresting, they had no personality. Or, they all collectively had the same single personality. It had none of the cheery Christmas vibes I was hoping for, or even the mournful holiday sadness. Bea was superficial, and none of her deep emotions felt real because she was so forgettable. I will give one more of this author’s books a try, but I don’t have high hopes.

[Tia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read with a great message. However, it was just too short for my taste. I wanted to know more about the characters and why Beatrice was so bossy and clingy. I wanted to know more about her and Eric's marriage.

I was given an eArc of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.

[ShayBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was drugged out to me and it took me five days to listen it to it. This was not for me.

[Nadine Keels · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been on the lookout for short, "PG" Christmas novels featuring Black characters, especially ones dealing with family and friendship and such. So when I ran into this novel with its married, middle-aged heroine and such a warm, bright, Christmassy book cover, I was happy to snatch it up right away.

I found this to be an easy read to relax with. Not mind-blowing, nor the sharpest or most original in style, but a story that's easy to digest without being oversweet or fairy-tale perfect.

Granted, it felt a little weird to me for Beatrice to come out and describe herself to the reader as kind, humble, and considerate. I mean, it seems to me that humble people tend not to...announce it. Stylistically, it wasn't my favorite thing when the adult characters here would "whine" or "wail" in conversation.

Also, some of the dialogue fell a bit flat and the development of the story felt a little unfocused to me sometimes. Almost like when a person continues talking for a while mainly to keep words going out loud while they're trying to figure out where the conversation should really go next. I wasn't always sure where certain comments or descriptions in the book were supposed to land emotionally, and it took a little time before I could get a clear sense of Bea's character and the issues she's dealing with. (Just from the story itself—not from an explanation in the book blurb.)

Even so, I like how the story deals with some unfortunate and tragic stuff without becoming a dark and dreary read overall. Besides some accounts of past violence (no gory scenes), again, the content is "PG" mild. And of course, Bea's journey here has a positive destination, in tune with the Christmas season. I'll likely read another or two of this author's holiday reads sometime.

[Vanessa (Bookin.Good) · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not it for me at all. The novel follows rich, bored house wife Beatrice who has a hard time accepting that she is an empty nester with her husband Eric. She tried to entertain herself with lavish parties but eventually people got tired of attending them and were starting to flake on her. When she tried to check in on her grown children, she would sneak into their homes to clean, or insist on doing her son's laundry. Not only was Beatrice bored but she was BORING so the first person narrative did not help the situation at all. There was also a huge lack of the holiday spirit in this novel as Christmas was hardly even mentioned. What annoyed me more about this novella is that Beatrice fixated on random things and people including Charles Davenport who was a homeless man at the shelter in which she volunteered (she also referred to her volunteering as her job). I also found this story to be incredibly obvious and predictable. The ending was happy as a holiday novella should be, but this read wasn't at all what I hoped it could be.

[Dorothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! :)

[Karee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, cute, predictable holiday love story, just what I needed a few days before Christmas.

[Michelle Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read to have

A great story of love and sometimes forgetting what we have when we get comfortable with life. I loved the dynamic between her and Charles and finding out he was the one who saved her life.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main character was relatable in most aspects but I wish there was more information from the other characters’ points of view about the main character. I did not like the ending.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remembrance was a short novella that makes the reader think about life and how lucky we are. Beatrice had an unforgettable accident that occurred 25 years before. She wanted to thank the person who saved her life, but never found the person. She moved on with her life and after 20+ years of marriage, a beautiful home, a family and a good job, she is feeling discontent. As Christmas approaches, others no longer want to attend her parties and events and her only happiness or contentment comes from working at the local soup kitchen. When she meets and talks to a homeless man named Charles, they both feel a connection and their discussions change both their outlooks and lives. I enjoyed this short story about a Christmas Miracle from 25 years earlier and how it affects lives in the present. This story made me feel compassion, caring and hopefulness. We never know how or when our words or actions will affect someone, even a stranger, but this made me think a lot about that. My only complaint is because this was a novella, I wanted to know more about Beatrice and her family, but that did not affect my enjoyment of this story.

[Barry Martin Vass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Monroe is interesting on a number of levels. The third child of Alabama sharecroppers, she fell in love with the written word at an early age. She began writing short stories at about four and, while she was the first in her family to graduate high school, she never went to college or took any writing courses at all. Despite this, her novel God Don't Like Ugly won the Oakland PEN Award for Best Fiction of 2001. So she tells a good story. Remembrance is set in the weeks before Christmas in the San Francisco Bay Area. Beatrice Powell, who has a good marriage and three grown children, is a volunteer at a local soup kitchen, and finds her work and interaction with the homeless very satisfying. But Christmas is always a time of great strain, and for Beatrice, who finds her friends and even her children pulling away from her, this year is particularly exasperating. Author Monroe uses dialogue in a particularly vivid manner to advance the story, and her characters are easy to imagine. Graceful storytelling.

[Damona · Rating 1 out of 5]

A general summing up of this book: smug, rich, perfect woman has it all and... continues to have it all and more! I like sweet little stories. I like romance. I like when things work out well for others. This book though... ugh. Mostly, I just wanted to smack Mrs. Smugandperfect.

I almost DNF, but it was like a train wreck... I had to finish it in hopes that SOMETHING would happen. I was disappointed.

[Joyce E. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was too simplistic. It did not have the character development that Mary Monroe’s books normally have.

[Maria Diane M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Remembravce

I normally like Mary Monroe's style. This one, so found to be mundane. It reminded me of a short story that lost its climax. Definitely would not recommend.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't give away spoilers in my reviews.
I previously read Empty Vows by Mary Monroe and loved her characters so much, I wanted to read her book as soon as I saw it on my library shelf.
The title and cover of Remembrance are so pretty. It's past Christmas but I always enjoy Christmas stories year-round.
This is a quick read. Beatrice is the main character and I immediately liked her. She's questioning her whole safe life and wondering why she's bored. After an accident 25 years ago, she's married and raised a family and volunteers in a soup kitchen.
Her three kids are annoyed by her overwhelming need to helicopter them. Her husband is so boring.
Beatrice questions if she has a good life since it's so boring.
I loved her inner thoughts. Her thoughts are so Mary Monroe-ish! I liked how she talked her way through everything, admonished herself, etc.
Other characters were funny to read. Her kids were especially funny - I could easily imagine them being annoyed at her smothering.
Beatrice meets characters at the soup kitchen on a daily basis. She meets one named Charles and he teaches her what she is missing - but not how I thought he would. I really thought I had it figured out and was completely wrong.
The ending was surprising and sweet.
Fun afternoon read on a cold winter day.
I don't want to give away the ending.

[LaChelle Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars...The beautiful, festive cover was what immediately drew me to this book, which is my first read by this author. The plot was somewhat predictable and a little slow, but kept me interested enough to see how it would end. What I found ironic is that the character, Beatrice and I were about the same age (I'm 44 and if I recall she was turning 45) but she seemed so much older, so I found it difficult to relate to her. I kept thinking is this what I have to look forward to at 45. Geez! Her life seemed so humdrum. She went to work, ate at the same restaurant for her lunch breaks, went home, cooked dinner for her husband and then repeated the same thing the next day. Well, pretty much the entire book. I wasn't surprised by the twists because I'd figured out what would happen earlier on. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. But, I do plan to read more from this author in the future.

[Cheryl Durham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh what a read. Mary Monroe penned a work that was short and poignant. The main character, Beatrice, will take the reader on a ride. Beatrice loved life, her family and especially Christmas. She, particularly, loved giving back to others. Monroe’s work helps to emphasize that in the midst of having it all feelings of emptiness can lurk nearby.

But, there would come a time when she rethinks where she is and what she will do with the rest of her life. As God would have it, it’s where she spends the majority of her time that these questions are answered. The answers would bring delight not only to Beatrice but to those in her immediate family. Monroe reminds us that inspiration, gratitude and the feeling of fulfillment is within....but when are given a chance to see us.....they can help us to see those things that we’ve overlooked....and possibly taken for granted.

[Valarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. Although just a novella (I guess! It was short.), the beginning felt rushed. Also it was hard to believe that Beatrice was sidelined by an accident that happened 25 years prior and the only thing it took shake her out of the funk her out of the memory was meeting one homeless man. Ok he, Charles, was significant to her story but it seemed to farfetched that this was all it took. Honestly Charles was about the only interesting person in this story. The husband was boring, the children were ungrateful and she had no life outside of volunteering(which is awesome) and throwing big parties that no one wanted to attend anymore. If you like Mary Monroe's books, which I do, you probably won't love this one!

[Pat Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mixed Feelings

I could somewhat relate to Bea's plight. Her existence was built around doing for others and once she became an empty nester, she became bored with life and her husband. I must say that her kids graduated and moved on at rather younger ages and that may have been part of Bea's issue. But she also appeared to live in the past, annually agonizing over an event that had her stigmatized. She refused to acknowledge that she needed professional help. Her saving grace was the effort she put into helping others, which eventually brought her full circle. I didn't think that the stranger's advice was any different from what she been hearing from family and friends, instead it was who the stranger was.

[Kathleen Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beatrice more or less has it all. Unfortunately, with Christmas coming, she's actually thinking of what she doesn't have. Charles, one of the homeless men at the shelter where she volunteers, also once thought he had everything and then, well he didn't. These two make each other think about the blessings they've got. At the heart of this plot is Beatrice's long search for the person who saved her life an accident years ago. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. You might think you know how this is going to end but go with it because you'll meet some nice characters, have a pleasant read, and enjoy a positive message.

[April Sellers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this story was good! I picked Charles out from the first meeting as the guy who saved her life. I couldn't read the pages fast enough to confirm my suspicion. The story dealt with relatable issues and life lessons along the way. Beatrice learned a few things about being overbearing and pushing herself over the limit. She was able to become more relaxed and enjoy the things that truly meant the most to her by taking the time out to listen and reflect upon her life. She found out just how great it really was. Just as she was beginning to get use to the empty nest syndrome she got a blessing that she had once hoped for but forgot about as time passed by.

[Gloria Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just an average book. I was not drawn to any of the characters or even the flow of the story. I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere in this book. It didn't seem to have a goal or destination, though in the end it was neatly wrapped up. The character didn't have a goal or plan and things just went day to day. It was OK in that I didn't quit halfway through (the way I would if I totally didn't like it), but it was a short (less than 200 page) small size book, so I just stayed with it. Only took a few hours to finish the whole thing.

I prefer a book where I am learning something or am drawn in by the characters and hate to put it down. This was not it.

[Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bea is approaching middle age. Her three kids are grown and flown. She's trying to find her place in life. Her volunteer work is very important but her friends and family can't quite figure out the appeal of working in a soup kitchen. An incident from her past haunts her each year. As Christmas approaches, she learns more about this moment in her past and it helps her to frame her decisions about what to do next. I thought the ending was a little far-fetched. The surprise she gets at the end of the book doesn't quite fit with what I was expecting.

[Novel Nook · Rating 4 out of 5]

:This is a heartwarming and realistic story with short yet detail-packed chapters that made it hard to put down. The narrative tied together beautifully at the end, offering a satisfying conclusion. If you are looking for spice this is not the book for you, the focus is on Bea’s journey of self-discovery and her meaningful work at a local soup kitchen—showcasing her kindness and compassion for all. Although set during the Christmas season, it’s not overly heavy on holiday descriptions. Love the book cover! I look forward to reading more from Mary Monroe.

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beatrice feels she needs to change something in her life, but she isn't quite sure what. Ever since she recovered from an accident, she has felt something was missing. By volunteering at the soup kitchen every day she tries to make a difference. Then one day her path crosses that of Charlie's and continues to do so on a random schedule. Charlie will be what Beatrice needs to discover the answers she is looking for and in turn will help Charlie take his own leap of faith.

[Deborah Arrington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read

From almost dying to having a wonderful life. And always being sad and anxious on the anniversary of her accident., Giving huge parrties no one was interested in attending anymore. Her guardian angel shows up in the form of a homeless man who eventually reveals he is the one who saved her all those years ago and how his life had left him homeless. A read that needs to be reaf

[Shannon Rickert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't normally give 5 stars because what of anything can be a full full five stars. This was a great book. Once I could actually sit down and get into it I couldn't stop. It is a smaller book and the First book by this author I have read but wowowow. Bea and the life she lives and the care she gives and still missing something in her own. Charles Davenport slipping in and helping her and himself along the way. I can't wait to get another book by Mary Monroe!!!