Blessed Are the Wholly Broken is the harrowing story of a modern family in the midst of self-destruction.
After the heartbreak of losing their newborn son to a previously undiagnosed genetic condition, Phillip and Anna Lewinsky manage to pick up the pieces of their broken lives and move forward, filling the emptiness with friends, work, and travel.
When Anna unexpectedly finds herself pregnant again at the age of forty-three, Phillip is thrilled to have a second chance at fatherhood in spite of Anna’s objections. But the scars from their long-buried grief run deep, and as desires clash, misunderstandings abound, and decisions are irrevocably made, the fractured foundation of their marriage begins to crumble until only tragedy remains.
Blessed Are the Wholly Broken by Melinda Clayton (Cedar Hollow Series) is an unforgiving portrait of Phillip and Anna Lewinsky who meet in college, marry and embark on the brand of charmed lives reserved for soul mates. The charm is replaced by emptiness when they lose their first child.
However, they find alternative interests and goals and pull their relationship back together until Anna becomes pregnant again and doesn't want to keep the baby.From Phillip's perspective, one paragraph in the prologue sums up the matter: "For weeks I sat at the defense table, my mouth dry, my eyes drier, and listened to the horror of my crime. The carefully prepared defense of my actions crumbled away like so much dust in the wind, blown apart by my own behavior. By the end, even I knew I was a monster, not for the reasons they cited--not because I had killed my wife--but because I didn't save her sooner."
Clayton's chapters alternate between the here and now of prison and the there and then of charmed lives, soul mates and--ultimately--losses and misunderstandings. As the chapters lock together like the pieces of a carefully crafted puzzle, a dark and compelling picture emerges.The star-crossed beauty of charmed lives is all the more poignant when shown in stark contrast to a prison where, "in some odd way the noise and the stench have come to represent home. I'm comforted by the consistency of the assault on my senses, much as one finds comfort in the numbing monotony of white noise."
The result [is a] thrilling masterpiece that explores trust, marriage and friendships with levels of insight and depth seldom found in high-powered fiction that keeps readers turning pages while hoping against hope all that is broken will somehow be fixed.
