Thea Erickson, a renowned surgeon, is filled with both joy and grief as her family gathers at their home on a summer night in 1995. Her elder daughter Phoebe is getting married, but even the happiness of the day feels bittersweet, as Thea grapples with a terminal cancer diagnosis. She worries she won’t be around to support her younger daughter Astra, who’s still in college, but even Thea cannot foresee what is to come—a terrible accident the night of the wedding that changes Astra’s life forever.
In a last-ditch effort to protect her family, Thea arranges a secret meeting with an old family friend and extracts a promise that will reverberate long after she’s gone.
Years after her mother’s death, Astra has moved forward with a career and relationship, but she still struggles with her grief. When a man reaches out to her and Phoebe, offering a window into their mother’s past, Astra must make a choice, and her decision forces her to face what it means to love someone after they'''re gone, who we decide to forgive, and how families reckon with the past.
Genre: General Fiction
In a last-ditch effort to protect her family, Thea arranges a secret meeting with an old family friend and extracts a promise that will reverberate long after she’s gone.
Years after her mother’s death, Astra has moved forward with a career and relationship, but she still struggles with her grief. When a man reaches out to her and Phoebe, offering a window into their mother’s past, Astra must make a choice, and her decision forces her to face what it means to love someone after they'''re gone, who we decide to forgive, and how families reckon with the past.
Genre: General Fiction
Praise for this book
"When She Was Ours is an affecting debut about the fault lines that run through families and the resilience that emerges when they're exposed. Nordberg writes with clarity and compassion about the secrets that shape a family as she traces a mother's final choices and the long shadow they cast on her daughters. The result is an insightful and gripping story about grief, forgiveness, and the stubborn love that binds us, even when it hurts." - Jacqueline Friedland
"Beautifully told, this deeply moving story about mothers and daughters, grief and memory will resonate with anyone who has ever looked at their mother and thought, but how will I go on without you?" - Nicola Kraus
"Beautifully told, this deeply moving story about mothers and daughters, grief and memory will resonate with anyone who has ever looked at their mother and thought, but how will I go on without you?" - Nicola Kraus
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