Karen McQuestion’s novel, A Scattered Life, tells the story of three seemingly different women whose lives interconnect through marriage and friendship, and who come to find out they have way more in common than they could have imagined.
Skyla is a stay-at-home mother, who had a painful and nomadic childhood of her own, and finds it very difficult to relate to Audrey, her rigid and judgmental mother-in-law. Skyla is feeling unsettled with her life choices and sets out to reclaim a little of the person she once was through a part-time job at a local bookstore. Down the street from the house Skyla shares with her husband, Roxanne, her husband, and gang of five sons move in. A free spirit, Roxanne offers Skyla a deep friendship she didn’t know she’d been missing and a different outlook on life’s expectations. Audrey, dealing with an inattentive husband and unappreciative sons, disapproves of the developing friendship and meddles into Roxanne’s family life, with unexpected consequences. A tragic twist towards the end of the book draws all three women together. Through forgiveness, each is able to see the others in a new light.
McQuestion has richly developed her characters, and provides a robust back story for each, which really enables her readers to fully invest in them. They are complex people and the author’s use of third person omniscient storytelling really helps to understand their motivations. The story is well-organized and I found myself sneaking a chapter in during my downtime, and really looking forward to spending time reading before bed at night. The story is not too predictable in the way some books can be, and I was generally surprised by a plot development towards the end. The book is the perfect length as well – not too wordy – and I really enjoyed it!
Skyla is a stay-at-home mother, who had a painful and nomadic childhood of her own, and finds it very difficult to relate to Audrey, her rigid and judgmental mother-in-law. Skyla is feeling unsettled with her life choices and sets out to reclaim a little of the person she once was through a part-time job at a local bookstore. Down the street from the house Skyla shares with her husband, Roxanne, her husband, and gang of five sons move in. A free spirit, Roxanne offers Skyla a deep friendship she didn’t know she’d been missing and a different outlook on life’s expectations. Audrey, dealing with an inattentive husband and unappreciative sons, disapproves of the developing friendship and meddles into Roxanne’s family life, with unexpected consequences. A tragic twist towards the end of the book draws all three women together. Through forgiveness, each is able to see the others in a new light.
McQuestion has richly developed her characters, and provides a robust back story for each, which really enables her readers to fully invest in them. They are complex people and the author’s use of third person omniscient storytelling really helps to understand their motivations. The story is well-organized and I found myself sneaking a chapter in during my downtime, and really looking forward to spending time reading before bed at night. The story is not too predictable in the way some books can be, and I was generally surprised by a plot development towards the end. The book is the perfect length as well – not too wordy – and I really enjoyed it!
Karen McQuestion has been writing for years, but only when she uploaded the books for sale for Kindle did she realize that others would read them! Then, A Scattered Life was optioned for film! She now has five titles under Amazon Imprint.
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