SWEET BREATH OF MEMORY
With its tree-lined streets and curbside planters
brimming with spring bulbs, Amberley,
Massachusetts seems a good place for Cate Saunders
to start over. It’s been two years since her husband,
John, was killed in Iraq, and life has become
something to simply struggle through. Cate’s new
job as a caregiver doesn’t pay much, but the locals
are welcoming. Cate’s barely unpacked before she’s
drawn—reluctantly at first—into a circle of friends.
There’s Gaby, who nourishes her diner customers’ spirits as well as their
bodies;
With its tree-lined streets and curbside planters
brimming with spring bulbs, Amberley,
Massachusetts seems a good place for Cate Saunders
to start over. It’s been two years since her husband,
John, was killed in Iraq, and life has become
something to simply struggle through. Cate’s new
job as a caregiver doesn’t pay much, but the locals
are welcoming. Cate’s barely unpacked before she’s
drawn—reluctantly at first—into a circle of friends.
There’s Gaby, who nourishes her diner customers’ spirits as well as their
bodies; feisty Beatrice, who kept the town going when its men marched off
to WWII; and Sheila, whose Italian grocery is the soul of the place. Their
lives have also been touched by heartache. Soon, within the pages of an old
journal found in her apartment, Cate encounters another kindred spirit—
a Polish ghetto survivor who also made a new beginning in Amberley.
When revelations about Cate’s husband’s death threaten her newfound
peace of mind, these sisters-in-arms’ stories will show her an unexpected
way forward.
Cate will discover how although we suffer alone, we heal together—learning
to balance treasured memories with new dreams.
- Kensington
- Paperback
- July 2016
- 400 Pages
- 9781496703705
Buy the Book
$15.00
About Ariella Cohen
Ariella Cohen is a graduate of Barnard College, the
Hebrew University and the University of Michigan Law School. Her short
fiction appears in A Cup of Comfort for Couples, Heartscapes, and Flashshot.
She lives in New England; visit her at ariellacohenauthor.wordpress.com.
Praise
“Filled with compassion, humor and honesty, Sweet Breath of Memory is
a powerful story of forgiveness. Through food and friendship, a community
releases its long held secrets.”—Karen Brown, author of The Longings of
Wayward Girls
“Ariella Cohen spins a tender yarn about the enduring nature of love, the
importance of friendship and the eternal longing for a place to call home. A
big hearted story; every page brims with warmth, wisdom and compassion.”—Yona Zeldis McDonough, author of You Were Meant for Me
Discussion Questions
Cate’s memories of John are fluid, shifting in and out of
focus and becoming abraded by time. She questions if
this means her love was somehow flawed. Why do you
think some memories remain crisp, while others blur
and seem to dim?
Cate speaks of memories as a shield against loneliness and despair.
Like armor, they’re ‘initially so shiny they dazzle and in time acquiring
the patina of use.’ Do you agree? Are there particular memories that
have been your armor in life?
How does the life path of Cate mirror that of Miriam Rosen? Can
the guilt Cate feels over John’s death be compared with a Holocaust
survivor’s guilt?
Gaby does not initially tell her closest friends that she is ill. Knowing
how her parents’ death shadows her life, do you think denying herself
the comfort of friendship is a form of self-punishment?
Working as a home care aid, Cate wears the uniform of one valued
more for what her hands can do than what her mind can imagine.
Compare her initial attitude toward caregiving with Gaby’s toward
waitressing. Both women come to view such manual labor as a form of
atonement. Is this healthy?
When Helen describes growing up with her mother, the anger and
resentment she felt toward Charlotte is obvious even though it was
tempered by great love. How can we help friends and colleagues face
the unique challenges of caregiving?
Who do you think gave Cate Miriam’s journal entries? Why were they
given to her?
At the end of the novel, Cate comes home to Amberley. Compare
that scene with her arrival by bus in chapter one. Think about how
the women of Amberley changed in the interim. Is Cate a catalyst for
change much as Miriam was decades before?