Tracey Bateman Leave it to Claire

Leave it to Claire

Tracey Bateman

Warner, Jan 2006, $12.99

ISBN: 0446696080

Novelist Claire Everett raises her three children with the help of her mom, but if one asked the kids they would insist their mother is too busy on her books to give them quality time. They believe her ex their father Rick, who married Darcy last year, makes time for the fifteen year old Ari, thirteen years old Tank and ten year old Shawn.

Claire freaks when her mom informs her that she is moving to Texas to be with her other daughter and grandchildren. During a debilitating panic attack teacher Greg Lewis helps Claire until she can cope again. Not long afterward, Claire undergoes carpal tunnel syndrome surgery that allows her six weeks to realize how she has destroyed her life, neglected her children, and blamed Darcy, who has been kind and caring to her kids. Claire vows to change, but it will take more than a six step plan to succeed. She must learn to trust in people and believe in God if she is to achieve her objective of providing love, warmth and comfort to her children.

LEAVE IT TO CLAIRE is an intriguing character study that focuses on a working mother balancing between the needs of her three children and her at home job. The problems and expectations from her loved ones while she works at home are deftly handled and very believable. Though Claire believes her stress comes from her children's demands, her mother leaving town, her ex-husband and his wife, and her editor, readers know that much is internally-driven. Though some might object that her only chance to straighten out her broken relationships is to find God, everyone will agree this is a well written look at a beleaguered working mom.

Harriet Klausner