Between Here and April by Deborah Copaken Kogan

Between Here and April

by Deborah Copaken Kogan

When a deep-seated memory suddenly surfaces, Elizabeth Burns becomes obsessed with the long-ago disappearance of her childhood friend April Cassidy. Driven to investigate, Elizabeth discovers a thirty-five-year-old newspaper article revealing the details that had been hidden from her as a child - shocking revelations about April's mother, Adele. Elizabeth, now herself a mother, seeks out anyone who might help piece together the final months, days, and hours of this troubled woman's life, but the answers yield only more questions. And those questions lead back to Elizabeth's own life: her own compromised marriage, her increasing self-doubt and dissatisfaction, and finally, a fearsome reckoning with what it means to be a wife and mother.

Reviewed by sstaley on

2 of 5 stars

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The book was well written, but very depressing. The major plot started out good, but got bogged down with the adultery, suicide, marriage problems and I quit caring about the main character half way into the book. This book does highlight the very real problem of postpartum depression that can ruin lives: the mothers and the childs. I also feel that she never really solved her own problems, just caved in to the fact that this is all there was and continuing the cycle of women who end up as martyrs. She also does not end up happy or satisfied with her life. Not that all of our lives are perfect, but she was as miserable at the end of the book as she was at the beginning.

This book may contain too much sex, bad words, too much talk about suicide, than some people may be comfortable reading.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 27 December, 2008: Finished reading
  • 27 December, 2008: Reviewed