[amazon_image id="1400069459" link="true" target="_blank" size="large" ]The Storm at the Door: A Novel[/amazon_image]
Title: [amazon_link id="1400069459" target="_blank" ]The Storm at the Door: A Novel[/amazon_link]
Author: Stefan Merrill Block
Publication Date: June 21, 2011
Publisher: Random House
Purchase: [amazon_link id="1400069459" target="_blank" ]Amazon[/amazon_link], Barnes & Noble
The past is not past for Katharine Merrill. Even after two decades of volatile marriage, Katharine still believes she can have the life that she felt promised to her by those first exhilarating days with her husband, Frederick. For two months, just before Frederick left to fight in World War II, Katharine received his total attentiveness, his limitless charms, his astonishing range of intellect and wit. Over the years, however, as Frederick’s behavior and moods have darkened, Katharine has covered for him, trying to rein in his great manic passions and bridge his deep wells of sadness: an unending project of keeping up appearances and hoping for the best. But the project is failing. Increasingly, Frederick’s erratic behavior, amplified by alcohol, distresses Katharine and their four daughters and gives his friends and family cause to worry for his sanity. When, in the summer of 1962, a cocktail party ends with her husband in handcuffs, Katharine makes a fateful decision: She commits Frederick to Mayflower Home, America’s most revered mental asylum.
There, on the grounds of the opulent hospital populated by great poets, intellectuals, and madmen, Frederick tries to transform his incarceration into a creative exercise, to take each meaningless passing moment and find the art within it. But as he lies on his room’s single mattress, Frederick wonders how he ever managed to be all that he once was: a father, a husband, a business executive. Under the faltering guidance of a self-obsessed psychiatrist, Frederick and his fellow patients must try to navigate their way through a gray zone of depression, addiction, and insanity.
Meanwhile, as she struggles to raise four young daughters, Katharine tries to find her way back to Frederick through her own ambiguities, delusions, and the damages done by her rose-colored belief in a life she no longer lives.
Inspired by elements of the lives of the author’s grandparents, this haunting love story shifts through time and reaches across generations. Along the way, Stefan Merrill Block stunningly illuminates an age-old truth: even if one’s daily life appears ordinary, one can still wage a silent, secret, extraordinary war.
Stefan Merrill Block’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Monday, June 13th: Luxury Reading
Tuesday, June 14th: Book Club Classics
Wednesday, June 15th: Books and Cooks
Thursday, June 16th: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Friday, June 17th: Diary of an Eccentric
Tuesday, June 21st: Life in Review
Thursday, June 23rd: Girls Gone Reading
Friday, June 24th: Rundpinne
Saturday, June 25th: Colloquium
Monday, June 27th: Man of La Book
Friday, July 1st: Book Reviews by Molly
Tuesday, July 5th: Crazy for Books
Thursday, July 7th: Raging Bibliomania
Monday, July 11th: Melody & Words
Tuesday, July 12th: Amused by Books
Thursday, July 14th: Take Me Away
Book Giveaway!!
Thanks to the publisher, I have 1 copy of this book to give away to one lucky reader in USA/Canada. To enter, please use the Rafflecopter widget below. You must complete the first option (leave a blog comment) and then all other optional entries will unlock. Just click the text that says “Do It” and then enter! It is pretty easy to use, but if you run into any issues, please e-mail me (jennifer AT crazy-for-books DOT com), so I can investigate! The giveaway ends July 12 at 11:59pm EST. Good luck!
This book has a storyline that I am very interested in and I would love to win and read it.
I would love to read this book. The storyline is very interesting. Tore923@aol.com
(The extra info box didn’t show up on the entry). Dealing with mental illness during that time would have not been very pleasant. I would like to read this book.
Thank you for letting me know!
I love reading stories from this era. The description sounds like there is a lot of character development, which I enjoy.
I have had my eye on this book. The story sounds very intriguing. Thanks for the giveaway.
OMG, This sounds sooooo good! I’d love to read this. *adds it to my ever-lengthening list* *thinks* *puts tons of exclamation points! by it* SOOO EXCITED!!
Would love to read this!
It looks like an emotional story of some tough times.
This book sounds amazing. I’d love to read it!
Reminds me of THE NOTEBOOK with James Garner, which I loved!
I cannot wait to read this book! I just finished Next To Love, which has to do with three women and their husbands who go off to war. Some are left widows when the war is over and one has her husband return to her but he is an angry ghost of the man she fell in love with. I loved that book and this sounds a lot like that!
This sounds really good! Thanks for the giveaway!
I would love to read Storm at the Door. I am particularly intrigued by the menatl & emotional effects of war, and the personality change in Frederick certainly seems to fit that bill.
True life may seem good to the outside people but they dont know what truly is going
on inside the peoples lives. Also interesting is the fact that the book was inspired by elements of her grandparent lives to. And how it goes thru generations of family.
Seems like a really good book, with a great premise. Thanks for offering the giveaway.
This sounds like an interesting book. Very character driven I would think.
I must add this to my wish list. Thanks for the giveaway. I love to read books which are set in this era.
This sounds like a vary complicated plot. I would love to win it. Thanks for the chance.
The Storm at The Door sounds like a compassionate look at the enduring problems of mental health and treatment.
I love the quote at the end. Sounds excellent.
“Along the way, Stefan Merrill Block stunningly illuminates an age-old truth: even if one’s daily life appears ordinary, one can still wage a silent, secret, extraordinary war.”
Thanks for the giveaway.
“Inspired by elements of the lives of the author’s grandparents, this haunting love story shifts through time and reaches across generations. Along the way, Stefan Merrill Block stunningly illuminates an age-old truth: even if one’s daily life appears ordinary, one can still wage a silent, secret, extraordinary war.”
This inspired me and made me want to read this book even more!! Thanks for the opportunity to win it and add it to my home collection.
L McLendon
Pls dont add me into the giveaway. Just wanted to comment that this sounds like a very good book. Very inspiring type
have a nice day!
Mama Kucing
http://mamakucingbooks.blogspot.com/
I think this book sounds intriguing because of the time period and the way it has affected the character. I would love to read it!
forgot to leave my follower name: Ruth
The book sounds interesting and the cover’s really lovely.
This book seems so true-to-life, as so many long marriages undergo these types of shifts and eventual self-reflection. Thanks for the chance to win!
knittingandsundries(at)gmail(dot)com
This book sounds interesting. I’d love to give it a shot. Please count me in. Thank you!
nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com
I just found your site, and I’m so glad I did! Books are my passion. This book isn’t something that I would normally read, but it has potential to change my mind. Thank you for this opportunity!