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Title: Breaking and Holding

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Judy Fogarty

Narrator: Amy McFadden

Format: Unabridged

Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins

Language: English

Release date: 08-02-16

Publisher: Brilliance Audio

Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 14 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

For Patricia Curren, the summer of 1978 begins with a devastating discovery: an unfamiliar black pearl button in the bed she shares with her controlling husband, Jack. Seeking the courage to end her desolate marriage, Patricia spends a quiet summer alone on beautiful Kiawah Island. But when she meets Terry Sloan, a collegiate tennis player trying to go pro, their physical attraction sparks a slow burn toward obsession.

Once Patricia and Terry share closely guarded secrets from their pasts, they want more than a summer together. But their love soon fractures, as a potential sponsor takes an unusually keen interest in Terry - both on court and off. And when single, career-driven Lynn Hewitt arrives, other secrets must surface, including the one Patricia has kept from Terry all summer.

An intimate portrait of the folly of the human heart, Breaking and Holding explores buried truths that are startlingly unveiled. What's left in their wake has the power not only to shatter lives...but to redeem them.

Members Reviews:

We learn pretty quickly that Lynn was the affair Jack had but ...

"Breaking and Holding" is as heart-breaking as it is soulful. Patricia is a broken young woman who clings to the man who helped her when she was 7 (and he was an adult) and courted her when she was older. Jack is her rough, abusive, controlling husband. Patricia (or Tricia, the change in name representing the change within) finds out that he has cheated on her, and this revelation gives her the shove she needs to start trying to extricate herself from the relationship. She begins by staying at their beach house without him.

The story is told from the first-person point-of-view of Lynn, Jack's assistant despite being equally qualified- she is held back by her gender. The POV is broken for about 10% of the book around the 50% mark for some unknown reason (editing issues?) but works for the first and later chapters. The time when it follows Tricia and Terry (a young dyslexic tennis player) without Lynn or Jack. We learn pretty quickly that Lynn was the affair Jack had but she is confidante to everyone she meets throughout the book, despite being emotionally empty herself (everyone relies on her and she must rely on herself).

The story ultimately is about Tricia and Terry's relationship and the obstacles they face, including adultery, alcoholism, and abuse. They were each broken at a young age and help the other to piece together what they have left. Tricia gains her strength and Terry gains some sanity. This is broken again when the truth comes out and they must part. They then put themselves back together, slowly and painfully, alone.

It's really an incredible book, filled with lives of pain, anguish, and suffering. It was at the same time hard and easy to read- easy because it flows and won't let you put it down; hard because it's emotionally very heavy. Overall, it's a read that I am convinced will stick with me but one which I won't need to read again (I doubt I will ever forget this story). It is quite a perspective and journey. I would recommend this book, but be prepared to have your heart bumped and torn and pieced together along the way.