This book begins with the deaths an elderly couple. Jack Cooper has an inoperable brain tumor and has been close to death for several months. His wife, Laurel, seems to be in good health and is caring for him. However, one evening as they lay down for bed, Laurel has a heart attack. Jack is too weak to reach the phone and call for help, and he passes away shortly after Laurel.
Their three children gather, along with a few close family friends, as they prepare for the funeral. They discover several boxes in the basement which are filled with letters from Jack to Laurel - one written every week for the entire time they were married.
These letters reveal many family secrets and the motivation behind many of the decisions Jack and Laurel made.
Matthew, the oldest child, is dealing with a troubled marriage. Samantha is a local police officer, and a single mother. Malcolm returns from Brazil after fleeing two years earlier to avoid jail.
Malcolm's story seems to be the most troubled. He and Jack never got along well, and he resented that. He got in several fights, the last of which was to protect Rain, his former girlfriend and an adopted member of the Cooper family. He almost killed a man who had forced her to leave a bar and was trying to take off with her. In the process, he punched Rain's current boyfriend, Nathan, who is a county prosecutor, when Nathan said, "Leave it alone. She's not worth it."
The two biggest secrets that come out during the book are that Malcolm was fathered by another man when he got drunk and followed Laurel home, breaking into her house. It bothered me that Laurel was raped by a random homeless man, since this kind of thing can perpetuate the myth that sexual violence is usually perpetrated by strangers who attack people in the night.
It turns out that the homeless man who raped is mother is now one of the local preachers. This information comes out slowly through the letters, sending Malcolm on a roller coaster ride. This to me was very far-fetched, and I think the book would have been better without this.
It also turns out that Nathan set-up the bar scene two years before, clearing Malcolm of all charges so he doesn't have to run anymore.
Overall, this was a good book detailing the lives of good people. It was interesting to see how their choices affected themselves and each other.
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