The Promised Plan by Sharon Hughson – Review by Tara Johnson Barnes

The Promised Plan by Sharon Hughson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Promised Plan is an interweaving of short stories and poems and tells the story of grief, loss, estrangement, and familial relationships. It is a gut wrenching read full of raw emotions and feelings that will leave you in tears. This is a story that I know many, including myself, can relate to. As a mother we all want for our children to be close so when an estrangement occurs between siblings it can be difficult for a mother.

This story centers around a mother who devises a plan to reconcile her daughters but passes away before she is able to do so. As her dying wish she enlists the help of her granddaughter, Merci, to help her get her daughters to reconcile. Lacey attempts to keep estranged from her sister Krista, until her daughter intervenes. She risks disappointing and hurting her daughter if she does not try to forgive her sister. Can these women come together and reconcile after losing their mother? Or will hurt, anger, and hard feelings keep them estranged?

The author beautifully tells the story of how hurt, disagreements, and misunderstandings can occur between siblings. The result is not just estrangement between the siblings, but it causes a ripple effect through the family that can cause feelings of anger, betrayal, and sadness. After losing their mother Lacey and Krista must decide if they can push the hurt, guilt, and anger behind them and forgive one another in order to reconcile. The story hits home for me because of my relationship with my sibling so this was a difficult and emotional read for me. This book will take you on a rollercoaster ride of emotions as the author navigates through the difficult topics of death, grief, loss, familial relationships, estrangement, secrets, lies, anger, betrayal, hurt, forgiveness, and reconciliation. I highly recommend this book!

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