“Life is a fragile thing… 9/11 taught us that… For those of us left behind, all of us who touched on that day, we need to find strength and hope in Christ, and do what He tells us to do.” ask us to do.” do.” So says one of the main characters in Karen Kingsbury’s novel, Beyond Tuesday Morning, a harrowing look at the survivors of the greatest terrorist attack America has ever known.
Honestly, like most Americans, he had put the horror of 9/11 behind him. I hadn’t forgotten, I don’t know how anyone could forget, but I turned my thoughts away from the millions struggling to get on with their lives.
Kingsbury’s novel takes us into the mind and heart of Jaime, the widow of a firefighter who struggles to move on with her life, even while being trapped in the past. The novel is a sequel to One Tuesday Morning, a story I haven’t read but am looking forward to, despite knowing how it ends. Three years after the loss of her husband, Jaime must decide whether to explore another relationship or remain faithful to her husband and no one else.
Carefully and with the help of her daughter, her Heavenly Father, and her husband’s memory and scriptures, Jaime completes the grieving process. In doing so, she reminded me that even three years after the loss of the World Trade Center, families were still struggling with the loss of spouses, parents, and children. Through Jaime, we see St. Paul’s Chapel and many other grieving survivors, and my heart goes out to all of them. I cannot imagine losing my husband or my children, especially in such an inexplicable, violent and public way.
Kingsbury deals with a very personal situation in a sensitive and caring way. I found Jaime’s struggle, his back-and-forth conflict, realistic and heartbreaking. At the same time, his faith in Christ moved me. I appreciated seeing her, so strong in faith, going through such struggles because it is rewarding to know how to fight that understanding does not equal a loss of faith. Jaime maintains his faith even as he works through the grieving process and ultimately heeding her lost husband’s warning, he chooses life over death.
There were a few nagging complaints I had: I wondered why Jaime wasn’t working, for example, and I didn’t know the answer until after the novel was two-thirds complete. I assume that was covered in the previous story, but it still made me wonder. Also, I thought adding just a few words, “sounded like” or “she thought he said,” when Clay gave her name would have prevented a little confusion.
That said, these were the only flaws I found in the story, and they are very minor. The story grabbed me and drew me in, keeping me reading all night. The next book I’m aiming for is One Tuesday Morning, followed by basically every other book Kingsbury has published so far. Despite the fact that he made me cry three or four times, or maybe because of that, this was one of the best books I’ve read in a long time, and I hope it repeats itself.