Heart Like Mine: A Novel
When Kelli dies unexpectedly, she leaves behind two children and a secret. The kids move in with their father, Victor, formerly an every-other-weekend parent, and his brand-new fiancée, Grace. But Grace, compassionate as she is, never wanted to be a mother, and her interactions with grieving 13-year-old Ava are often fraught. Independently and, later, together, the two work to unravel the mystery of Kelli’s troubled youth and the reason for her deep depression (“Kelli didn’t set out to lie about her past. At first, she thought she could just outrun it.”). Narrated alternately by Grace and Ava in the present, with flashbacks to Kelli from age 14 until the day she died, the novel explores myriad themes sure to appeal to fans of women’s fiction: love and loss, parenthood, grief, friendship, and complex family dynamics. The ending, which wraps up as cozily as a 30-minute sitcom, is somewhat unbelievable, but Hatvany’s compassion for each female character is evident throughout, and readers will find their hearts, at times, breaking in three. --Ann Kelley