THE AIR WE BREATHE (CHRISTA PARRISH)

 

 

Story Description: 

 

Baker Publishing Group|November 1, 2012|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-7642-0555-2 

 

New from the Winner of ECPA’s Fiction Book of the Year. 

 

Seventeen-year-old Molly Fisk does not go outside.  She’s ruled by anxiety and only feels safe in the tiny tourist-town museum she and her mother run and call home.  Yearning to live free but unable to overcome deep wounds from her past, she stays hidden away.  Then the chance arrival of a woman Molly knew six years ago changes everything. 

 

Six years ago, newly single Claire Rodriguez was an empty shell.  Only in the unique friendship she strikes up with a young girl – a silent girl who’ll only talk to Claire – does she see the possibility of healing.  But one day the girl and her mother vanish, their house abandoned.  What happened that drove them away?  And how can Claire now offer Molly the same chance at finding at new life? 

 

My Review: 

 

The Air We Breathe had me hooked from the very beginning!  The character development in this novel is phenomenal.  The author’s descriptions of the personalities of each character is flawless.  I felt like I knew each person intimately as if I’d been a close friend for years. 

 

Young Molly Fisk enters a bank with her father.  Just as they are about to leave, bank robbers appear on the scene and Molly witnesses her father being shot and killed and is then kidnapped for two weeks before she manages to escape.  This sends her into a world of “muteness” where she won’t talk to anyone.  Molly and her mother, Susan, move away and change their names.  Molly lives a secluded life, never even so much as stepping outside.  It takes years for Molly to unravel what she experienced that day in the bank.  To some, her fears and turmoil may seem irrational, but for Molly they are glaringly real.  I could empathize and really ‘feel’ Molly’s pain, I felt so sorry for her. 

 

Molly and her Mom end up in a small town where they live and run a wax museum.  One day Molly runs into Claire, a woman who she knew six years ago and needs healing of her own.  Soon Molly’s life begins to change.  The unique and close friendship that Claire and Molly share is precious because in Molly’s muted world the ONLY person she will ‘speak’ to is, Claire.  Then one day, Molly and her Mom are gone and the house is empty.  Claire doesn’t know what to think, doesn’t know where they went, and wonders how she is going to continue to help Molly recover if she can’t find her.  Where is she? 

 

Christa Parrish has written a beautiful novel full of heartache and pain and healing and redemption.  For sure, The Air We Breathe is a highly recommendable book.  I’m going to be searching out more of this author’s work. 

 

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".