Carol Blomstrom finds out her cancer has returned, and she knows her days are numbered. When she discovers details of an upcoming class reunion in her neglected pile of mail, she is driven to look back on her life in a way she never has before.
Wiping years of dust from her hope chest, she inspects the relics inside. Fears, disappointments, unresolved conflicts, and love-both won and lost-cascade through her mind. Memories of undeserved forgiveness combine with fragments of unforgotten bitterness. Torn between love for her children and dread over what they might discover about her past, Carol revisits the early years of her marriage and the truth about her ex-husband.
How much did she cover up and was the world of her own creation even real? As evidence of secrets, falsehoods, and the choices she made hover in her thoughts, she gets caught in a whirlwind of questions. Who and what has she become? Her journals are words written in pain, anger, loneliness, and passion. They remind her of a time when right and wrong had lost their meaning. But at what cost?
As a family reunion approaches, Carol seeks to resolve what she will leave behind as her legacy, what memories will pass when she does, and what must never be known by anyone. All is coming together until she falls and suffers from temporary amnesia.
Will her memory return before it's too late?
In
The Dance of Remembering and Forgetting
, Santiago reminds us that lovers have flaws, people are stronger than they think, "no" is often a slow "yes," and real love is worth fighting for. It's a spellbinding journey about the power of memory, love, and second chances.