Book Review: The Far End of Happy by Kathryn Craft

 Imagine, if you will, a small farmhouse. A store that sells produce grown at the property. A husband-wife team who run the show. Let’s go over to the house – it’s old. But when you enter, you see that each room is lovingly restored. The husband’s built all the furniture in his workshop. The wife has helped strip and paint the walls. It’s homely, comfortable, and has character. Running through the house are their two sons, Will and Andrew, and their dog Max.

Isn’t that a pretty picture? One of love and joy, togetherness and companionship. But, look a little closer, and you’ll see that the woman, Ronnie, isn’t entirely happy where she is. She has a major in journalism, but gave up her career to marry Jeff. Somewhere along the way, she found herself adrift, alone in the marriage, and questioning her very identity. Look even closer, and you’ll see the darkness of depression lurking there in the background. A darkness that is about to come out front and centre and destroy the very fabric of this family, and of the small town where they live.

Ronnie's husband is supposed to move out today. But when Jeff pulls into the driveway drunk, with a shotgun in the front seat, she realizes nothing about the day will go as planned.

The police manage to get the family out of the farmhouse and away from harm’s way. While they wait for the police to make contact with Jeff,

The next few hours spiral down in a flash, unlike the slow disintegration of their marriage—and whatever part of that painful unraveling is Ronnie's fault, not much else matters now but these moments.

Tensions build in the firehouse, where the family can do nothing but wait to see how the day will play out. It is from this point on that the story starts to move back and forth between the present and the past. Craft does a masterful job of weaving the back story with events as they are unfolding in the present, so you never feel like you’re being jerked around between the past and the present. The narrative is compelling enough to grip you around the heart, even though you know how the story will end. Given that it is based on a real event from the author’s life, the insight and raw emotion she brings to the story is palpable on every page.

Craft has woven together a wonderful story, one that is likely to linger with you long after you turn the last page. Highly recommended!