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In this inspiring novel, each obstacle stacked against the protagonist solidifies her resolve. After the parents of Magnolia (Lia) die helping at a hospital in WWII, she is raised by her grandmother with the help of her parents’ friends in the medical community in Chicago. Channeling her mourning into her studies, Lia graduates high school and college early on a beeline to medical school to fulfill her parents’ legacies. Lia escapes to California to start anew when the high school sweetheart she marries betrays his promises.
Beginning and ending in the dress shop of Kat—Lia’s granddaughter and successful boutique owner—the novel’s promising glimpse into the future eclipses everything Lia’s husband took away from her. Kat’s dream—her carefully preserved vintage apparel—is not in line with her family’s academic wishes for her but is in line with her grandmother’s example of listening to her heart for unfaltering guidance toward a goal. The prose, with Lia’s story at the center, is as forward-moving as the book’s forward-thinking message. Like Lia’s friends encourage her to take breaks from her relentlessness, the book’s chapters are spaced in bite-sized amounts. Details focus on relationships, supportive and otherwise, moving linearly from scene to scene through major events in Lia’s life for a panoramic and active view, not overly concerned with analysis or background-building. Gratitude and loving advice dominate the dialogue. So, too, in Lia’s internal dialogues, her determination trumps her fears and hurts. Chicago and Los Angeles are not as well described as these triumphant emotional landscapes, which are clear and imaginable in any setting.
Lia’s friendships are each given their due. The supporting cast brings out Lia’s multiple facets, her studiousness as well as her love of books, movies, and dining. Historic statistics about women in medicine, changes in marital norms, and immigration ground the story in facts. The domestic abuse passages are graphic and tragic but not sensationalized. Rather, Lia and the story use them as evidence of injustice and to empower other women to tell their stories. Scenes of emergency room cooperation and sharing duties at home also counterbalance and correct the abuse narrative. Lia finds true love with another doctor with whom she works. Lia and Ben co-parent Lia’s daughter and later have children of their own.
Kat’s marital dilemma, exposed at the end, shows that the book bears lessons meant to be applied. Kat looks back at Lia’s life in order to gain clarity about her own future. The abundant, happy family gathering Kat goes to at the book’s end in Lia’s hospitable home, where many relatives—whether related by blood or friends who have become family—work together to put on a flowery and cake-rich celebration, proves that Lia’s life provides the fodder Kat seeks. Lia’s unwavering pursuit of her own trajectory feeds Kat’s decision-making about Kat’s faltering marriage, as well as provides solace and encouragement for readers facing similar challenges. The author states, in a robust acknowledgment section at the book’s start, that she aims to help people with her story. She adds her own outline to Lia’s and Kat’s. Given the subject matter, a personal and intimate tone is appropriate and appreciated. Simoni’s book is an honest and heartfelt gift of a woman’s journey that readers will undoubtedly honor and cherish.