When I Am Gone

Marge McRae
AuthorHouse (2011)
ISBN 9781452099101
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (5/11) 

 

If I had to use only one word to describe “When I Am Gone” by Marge McRae, it would have to be “graceful.” And you can take this either way, as “full of grace” or simply elegantly graceful – either would fit nicely.

Janet Drake has been a widow for three years, when she finally found what she believed was “her mission,” as requested by her late husband Peter. Before his death, Peter namely asked her to “find the mission God has for you,” and she has been looking for one ever since.

Learning about Tom Harrison, a widower with four young children, she decides to leave her more than comfortable life and go take care of them. She has no particular qualifications, and she’s not young, so Tom is not particularly keen on employing her, but he simply has no alternative and therefore offers her a week to try the arrangement out. So all of a sudden Janet is facing four deeply distraught, hurting children and a rather oblivious father, who is still mourning his wife and is quite vulnerable. In addition, several of Tom’s late wife’s friends are also badly in need of some support and impartial advice, which Janet tries to provide to her best abilities. To make matters even more complicated, she has unexpectedly encountered an old college friend, and it certainly looks like some old flames are being seriously re-ignited. In the midst of all of this, Janet struggles with the question about “her mission.” Are the Harrisons truly her mission? Or are they just a station on her way to the true one?

While I usually shy away from novels with a heavy emphasis on Christian teachings, and while there is a certain generational gap between the author and this reader, which invariably has to lead to some difference in opinions, I found myself utterly and completely charmed by this book. The story was completely compelling, the characters very well fleshed out and utterly believable, the issues all too real and the flow of the book drew me in really quickly. If I have any criticism at all, it is a selfish little point – I truly want to know what happens to Janet and Stu, her old college friend. While a lot is implied, no clear conclusion is presented. I can only hope that this omission is not an omission at all, but rather a promise of another story.

I would highly recommend “When I Am Gone” by Marge McRae to any reader who enjoys Christian books, as well as anybody else who simply enjoys a well written story of real people with real issues.

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