Labor Day By Joyce Maynard

[amazon_link id=”0061843415″ target=”_blank” ][/amazon_link]’Labor Day’ is the latest book from Joyce Maynard.

Henry is on the brink of self-discovery and his mother Adele rarely leaves their house in small-town New Hampshire. But when Frank, a mam with a secret and an extremely complicated past comes into their lives, things begin to look up for both of them. Over the course of just a few days, Adele will begin to see a new future for herself and Henry (a self described loser) will learn some of life’s most valuable lessons: how to throw a baseball, the secret to the perfect peach pie and the importance of placing those you love above yourself.

‘Labor Day’ is a poignant and intriguing tale that made for a gripping story. Told solely from the narrative of 13 year old Henry during the hot and humid Labor Day celebrations. It made for insightful reading as we joined this inquisitive lonely young boy on the brink of adolescence as he dealt with a newcomer in the house battling for his mothers attention.

Without having a permanent male role model in his life, Henry finds a solace and companionship in Frank, a gentle man who provides Henry with the simple things he missed out in life, such as learning to play ball, someone to talk too and most importantly someone that his mother can talk to, so Henry no longer has the responsibility of being the only person in his mothers life. But soon, Henry discovers he has mixed feelings towards the stranger in the house, no longer happy to have a new friendship, Henry soon begins to feel jealousy and resentment towards Frank as he rivals for his mothers affections, and is no longer the only person who can make Adele laugh.

As the story is seen through the innocent eyes of young Henry, it is interesting reading, observing Henry waver from various emotions from delight and jealously as he frets over losing his mum to dealing with puberty and new discoveries about sex and girls. As he develops, Henry deals with his mothers depressive and reclusive behaviour, he longs for a normal life and family, but through the sad story of his parents breakup, Henry finds himself being his mothers only true friend and the person that she relies upon the most.

A beautifully written coming of age story, about a naive young boy and his troubled mother, ‘Labor Day’ is a captivating story of loneliness, love and second chances and is most definitely worthy of its screen adaptation.

You can pre-order [amazon_link id=”0061843415″ target=”_blank” ]Labor Day from Amazon [/amazon_link]and will be available to buy from good bookshops from 16th January 2014.