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Book Description
After thirty close years, Gabby and DeeDee's lifelong friendship holds no surprises. Except for one: Thirty-eight-year-old DeeDee and her husband have decided to conceive their first child. And despite their concerns and a struggle with infertility, DeeDee finally gives birth to a healthy baby. But while the friends believe they have faced their greatest challenge, an unexpected tragedy will alter their lives and relationship forever.
In the classic tradition of movies such as Beaches and Steel Magnolias, Every Good and Perfect Gift shares a heartwarming story of friendship that overcomes all odds. Filled with laughter, tears, and everything in between, Gabby and DeeDee's journey will strike a chord with female readers of all ages.
From the Back Cover
"I'm not the strong one. I've never been the strong one."
So believes Gabby Whitaker in her friendship with DeeDee McAllister. They've been best friends since sixth grade, when headstrong and courageous DeeDee began mapping out their lives. But after twenty years with her husband, DeeDee changes the plan. Nearing forty years old, she wants a baby--now! Two years of infertility, prayers, and outrageous behavior finally result in the birth of DeeDee's demand.
Gabby is present for all of it, noting the increasingly strange behavior of her lifelong friend after the baby's birth. Then comes a diagnosis that threatens to shatter their world. Now Gabby must find the strength and faith to carry DeeDee and herself through the dark unknown, but is she up for it?
My Review:
Wow! This one is going to be one of my favorites for 2008. I can already tell. The author says of this book that she wanted to write about a "David and Jonathon" friendship with women. It definately is that. The friendship between Gabby and DeeDee is beautiful. They have been friends since childhood, sharing a lifetime of bonds and memories, marrying guys who were friends too, deciding to not have children, they are family. But then one day over their usual lunch DeeDee tells Gabby that she wants to have a baby. Gabby is shocked but supportive and so begins a three-year journey for DeeDee to get pregnant with Gabby beseeching God for an answer to their prayer. And when the prayer is answered and DeeDee has her sweet baby girl, all should be pure joy, but something is wrong with DeeDee and Gabby is terrified. How Gabby's pleas to heaven tore at my heart and reminded me of how we all rant at God in hard times and try to understand "why" even while we know there are no answers now.
What an amazing book. It was sweet and touching. It is a special book and the warmth in my heart after reading it will stay with me for a long time. Isn't amazing how books of this calibre can make you want to be a better person? Can make you smile with the tenderness of it even while you bat away tears from the poignancy? Very moving. It was funny and thoughtful at the same time. I want all my friends to read it! Souza has a wonderful voice that made you love Gabby for her goodness and faithfulness and DeeDee for her determination and outlook. I loved DeeDee's personality and the way she looked at life as if it would go her way and wouldn't dare to do anything but work out the way she expected it to. I loved Gabby's personality too and the way she held steadfast to her beliefs and, while thinking that she wasn't strong, showed strength and love that was beautiful and Christlike.
I give this book a sunny day rating and have decided to give away a copy of it. Just enter a comment here to win. You have to read this book!
AN INTERVIEW WITH SHARON K. SOUZA
Author of Every Good and Perfect Gift
1 . Your debut novel Every Good & Perfect Gift is releasing this month from Nav Press. Can you tell us a little about the book?
I wanted to write a book about a "Jonathan and David" type friendship between two women, knowing that I was ultimately going to tell the story of a young woman who is diagnosed with Early Onset Alzheimer's. I have a close friend who, at the age of 42, began to exhibit many of the symptoms portrayed in the book. Since completing the book I've learned that another close friend has been diagnosed with EOA. What are the odds?
In determining what course the friendship between Gabby and DeeDee would take, I asked myself: What is the greatest way one woman can express friendship to another? The answer: By helping her have a child if she's unable to, which one character is willing to do if it comes to that.
3. You've incorporated two major issues in Every Good & Perfect Gift: infertility and Early Onset Alzheimer's. Why not focus on one or the other? Why both?
The theme of Gift is extraordinary friendship. The foundation for the friendship is established between the characters in their childhood, tested through the issue of infertility, and exemplified through catastrophic illness. Infertility was the catalyst to get to that level of friendship expressed because of the illness. One character's growth was accomplished because of infertility, while the other character's growth came as a result of the Alzheimer's.
4. Why did you use humor to tell a story with such serious issues?
It's exactly because the issues are so serious that I chose humor to tell the story. Our life experiences are heavy enough without adding to them as we read for pleasure. That's not to say there aren't serious moments in the book, but hopefully the reader is buoyed by the lighter sections, rather than overloaded with the weightier ones.
5. What are your feelings about egg donation and other modern solutions that help women overcome infertility?
There are some things I might not personally opt for, but infertility was never an issue with me. If it had been I might have been willing to try anything. As it stands, I'm not opposed to in vitro fertilization or sperm donation, things of that nature. I don't find anything in Scripture that would cause me to be against it.
6. What are your feelings about a couple's decision to intentionally not have children?
Again, that wasn't my experience. I had three babies in quick succession and would not have done anything differently. But not every adult is cut out to be a parent. If an individual or couple realizes that they aren't equipped for parenthood, or if they feel their lives are full as they are, I don't' believe it's a sin not to have children. In fact, I think it's wise. That's not to say a person's feelings may not change in time, like it did for DeeDee. Then it's up to the couple to make the choice that's right for them.
7. What do you want your readers to take away from this book?
I spent several years in my early adulthood without a close friend. When the first one came into my life, I realized what I had missed and truly saw her as a gift from the Lord. But beyond that, I've experienced the truth of Proverbs 18:24: ". . . there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." In her darkest moments, Gabby learned that the Lord reaches out to us in compassion, spanning the gap between our need and His provision. That's been the case in my life over and over.
8. Do you base any of your characters on real people?
The concept of the story was based on a real situation in regards to the Early Onset Alzheimer's. But the characters are not based on real people. I do typically use people I know/have known and then take their personality traits/quirks to extremes--almost like a caricature--in order to make the character as interesting as possible. Almost always my daughters will recognize something of themselves in my make-believe world. It makes for fun conversation.
9. If the characters are primarily fictional, what about the setting? Is that someplace known to you?
I actually wrote the entire story in a fictional setting, without ever naming it. I just placed the town in the San Joaquin valley. My editor suggested I nail down the location, even a fictitious one. As we talked back and forth, I decided to use my real "home town" of Lodi. I grew up in the Sacramento area, but have lived in or around Lodi since my husband and I got married. There's some debate about whether or not "our" Lodi is the subject of the 1969 Credence Clearwater Revival song, "Stuck in Lodi." Right or wrong, I choose to think it is. But not for a minute do I feel stuck. I love Lodi.
10. What is your purpose in writing inspirational fiction?
