Tragedies that take kids too soon are always unexpected. As busy moms, we just forget that we are all fragile. We sometimes forget that the messy room, the lapse in homework, the bad grade, aren't the important things about mothering.
My love for my boys isn't "equal" in height, weight or circumference. The love I feel for my second is absolutely incomparable to the love I feel for my first. As if it's a different color, a different language, a different texture or a different tonality.
William Landay has written a stunning novel and it is one that should draw attention to the possibilities it raises. In the next few weeks, Defending Jacob is the novel most readers are going to be discussing.