Juliette Fay

Shelter Me Juliette Fay

Four months after her husbands death, Janie LaMarche remains undone by grief and anger. But her mourning is disrupted by the unexpected arrival of a builder with a contract to add a porch onto her house. Stunned, Janie realizes the porch was meant to be a surprise from her husband—now his last gift to her. Reluctantly allowing construction to begin, Janie clings to the familiar outposts of her sorrow—mothering her two small children with fierce protectiveness, avoiding friends and family, and stewing in a rage she cant release. Yet Janies self-imposed isolation is breached by a cast of unlikely interventionists: her chattering, ipecac-toting aunt; her bossy, overmanicured neighbor; her muffin-bearing cousin; and even Tug, the contractor with a private grief all his own. As the porch takes shape, Janie discovers that the future is best navigated with the help of others—even those we least expect to call on, much less learn to love.