The Taste of Air by Gail Cleare

Getting a phone call that your mother is in the hospital is frightening enough, but learning that the hospital is in Vermont and only a few miles from your mother's home when she lives in Massachusetts is quite puzzling for Nell.

Nell quickly made her way to Vermont, and Nell's sister, Bridget, would be arriving the next day from Washington, D. C.

After she saw her mother and needed a place to stay, Nell asked the receptionist for some local places to stay.  The receptionist suggested that she stay at her mother’s home. Another surprise...no one knew Mary had a home here.

As Nell looked around the cottage her mother was living in, she realized her mother had been here for longer than she had admitted and not in the assisted living facility.  There were a lot of secrets being kept by Mary both now and in the past.

A TASTE OF AIR has us following the lives of the three main characters.  We follow Mary from the time she was in the service as a nurse and met her husband to present day.  We follow Bridget and Nell as well.  Bridget had an interesting life with many marriages.  Nell seemed to be a normal, follow-the-rules, do-not-change-anything housewife.  All of the characters were heartwarming.

A TASTE OF AIR was a lovely read that any women’s fiction fan will enjoy.  I enjoyed going back and forth in the women’s lives and especially in Mary’s. Mary seemed to have the most interesting life and the one with the most secrets, and she had one BIG secret.  Bridget came in second with secrets.  Nell didn’t seem to have any secrets but got some ideas as time went on.

I truly enjoyed this book.  Ms. Cleare’s writing is smooth, beautiful, detailed, and alluring.  When you don’t want a book to end, you know the author’s talent is the reason.

A TASTE OF AIR is a perfect summer read or an any time read for when you need warmth oozing from the pages to help your mood be lightened or to be taken away.

There are also some tissues needed for happy things as all came together at the end, but for the most part A TASTE OF AIR is an uplifting, enjoyable read that is like receiving a big hug.  

I hope you get to read this book.  5/5

This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions are my own.