🌲Book Tour Stop🌲
Q: Do you gravitate towards nostalgia?
I love going to museums, looking through albums, visiting the older relatives in my family and extended family. I had the opportunity to visit with my Grandfather’s little sister years back and it was the best experience (he was born in 1912). She was a tiny woman and so intimidating as all the stories I heard of her. Him and my Grandma were from 9 and 12 kid families.
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When I Last Saw You
Bette Lee Crosby
#bookreview
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This story starts with Margaret Rose as she is mourning the loss of her husband and left with no living relatives and wonders at this point in her life where her 8 siblings ended up after their family was separated.
As she goes to look for her siblings the chapters reveal Margaret’s investigative progress as we are given more insight into her mother Eliza’s story in the alternating chapters. Oh Eliza. If only men like Martin could see that children are made by 2 people, such a selfish man.

The dual timeline between the 1901’s and 1968’s time period before computers and the ease of googling and handheld devices always feels so foreign like a different language. I remember watching my mother read through the microfiche at the library and really wanting to get my hands on that machine. But tracking down a person with no internet, no cell phone, no real papertrail now is an adventure and so interesting to follow along.

This story has such beautiful descriptions of times gone by and the importance of family in life. Life is made up of experiences and human interactions. The way each of the siblings she was able to reconnect with remembered and told their own pasts only sharing the good memories. Even though they grew up with the least they had the most love available from their mother Eliza.

Margaret also learned that when she thought her life was over, going on this adventure to find her siblings she was given a second chance to live a new life with her family that she thought she had lost forever.
I am more of an Elder Millennial and I will say YOLO whenever anything comes up and definitely when family asks to do stuff. My mom would try not to impose on her sister and I am like go impose on her, she wants to hear from you. You only live once and your family wants to hear from you and hear about your life. I mean unless your name is Martin, then just send money.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Thank you @suzyapprovedbooktours for having me on this tour and @betteleecrosby for gifting me this gem of a book. It’s like a time capsule. I didn’t want this book to end!

Synopsis:

From USA Today Bestselling Author Bette Lee Crosby comes a powerful southern saga based on a true story… Betrayal and secrets tore her family apart decades ago, now a lonely widow must search for the pieces of her broken childhood.

WHEN I LAST SAW YOU

GEORGIA, 1968 – Margaret Rose McCutcheon has just buried her husband and must now name a beneficiary for their estate in case of her demise. She is hard-pressed to do so because there is no one. No children. No family. At least none to speak of. At one time, she had two sisters and six brothers, but the lot of them were scattered to the four winds, with no one knowing where the others went. In the hope of finding at least one of her siblings, Margaret hires a detective and sets off on a journey to uncover the truth of why the family broke apart as it did.

WEST VIRGINIA, 1901 – When Eliza Hobbs gives birth to her sixth child, her husband is not there to welcome his daughter into the world. No surprise, because Martin is seldom there. He works in Charleston and returns to Coal Creek only when he has a mind to. Yes, he sends money on occasion, but seldom enough to make ends meet. Although Eliza believes each new child a blessing, he sees them as yet another responsibility on his already overloaded shoulders. When he discovers another child is on the way, he demands she get rid of it. he stops returning home and there is no more money.

Left with the children, a mountainside patch of land, and a house in sorry need of repair, Eliza seeks help and turns to someone powerful enough to hold sway over Martin and force him into providing for his family. Pushed to the brink, Martin does something unforgivable and the family is forever torn apart.

Now, after all these years, will Margaret be the one to find the pieces of her broken family?