While I Was Gone, (Paperback)

I had read The Good Mother by Sue Miller and was engrossed in this story. I knew she was a great writer, so was anxious to get into this book. However, it did start out slowly and even boring, until we get a look at her previous life, which was very mysterious and not at all like the person she is presently. This woman who leads a good life with her pastor husband and 3 beautiful daughters and lives in a lovely rural town, is restless with her life until she meets up with a man from her past. It so happens that they lived in the same communal home where she shared her life with about 5 other young adults from the 60's hippie generation. She yearns for that excitement of her younger days and soon gets caught up with an attraction for this man from her past. It becomes an obsession with her and almost destroys her marriage and relationship with her children. She will soon learn the answer to a dark secret from her past, which will ultimately rock her very universe. I must say reading Sue Miller's book was both fascinating and frightening at the same time. Sue MIller is masterful in creating the ambience and setting for this journey into the unknown. It is especially terrifying to discover that someone you thought you knew, is really not what he seems at all. The author will have you on pins and needles trying to guess what next? The reader will not be disappointed with this spine-tingling story.