All Right Here (The Darlings)

By Carre Armstrong Gardner

Description:

Ivy Darling can’t have children of her own, and her husband Nick’s resentment is forcing them apart. And while Ivy has the support and love of her large, close-knit family, Nick’s family has never welcomed her into the fold. When the three children next door are abandoned by their mother, Ivy and Nick take them in for the night. One night becomes several, and suddenly Ivy and Nick find themselves foster parents to the only African-American kids in the town of Copper Cove, Maine. As Ivy grows more attached to the children, Nick refuses to accept their eclectic household as a permanent family. Just as Ivy begins to question whether or not she wants to save her emotionally empty marriage, Nick begins to discover how much Ivy and the children mean to him. But is his change of heart too little, too late?

Why the author wrote this book:

I wanted to show both the hardship and beauty of love within a family. As a foster child who was later adopted myself, I've always been interested in alternative ways of building families. As well, I think that conflict within families, whether between husbands and wives, or between siblings is a theme everyone can relate to. In marriage, and in the kinds of families that choose us instead of being chosen by us, love can seem more like a decision than a feeling. It can require a lot of forgiveness. The beautiful part is that if we do it well, the feelings have a way of ambushing us along the way.