Disclosure: I received this book to review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

A place that shrivels the soul.
For some children, that’s what home is.
In All My Belongings by Cynthia Ruchti (pronounced “Rook-Tee”) we meet Becca, a little girl who survived but didn’t thrive. Until now.

As she sidestepped the reporters who clamored to catch the gossip that was to be her legacy, she longed for a new identity. So she created one. A new name, a new job, everything made clean. I drank in the words as she started her new life. Being a caregiver is a beautiful gift that not everyone can manage. Becca did it with love and gentleness, but deeper than that was a will to erase her past.

The story is so full of hope and misery combined that it was impossible not to become entangled in it. Knowing that Mrs. Hughes was a lovely, vibrant person who had been stolen away by Alzheimer’s made me want to know her before her mind started to slip. My great-grandmother had dementia in her later years; we always called her Our New Grandma. Still, the love and memories buoyed our hearts for the days after she passed away. As I read All My Belongings, I couldn’t help but feel compassion for The New Mrs. Hughes. I suppose that’s how Becca felt, too.

As the story went on, I really connected with Becca. I know how it feels to be responsible for a parent who committed a multitude of wrongs. I know how it is to want to hide from the past. Healing comes from the unexplained, the unimaginable, and that place inside the heart that holds forgiveness. Will Becca find it? You’ll just have to read All My Belongings to find out!

Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of this book.