Finding Heather

Written by Alison Ragsdale

Narrated by Mhairi Morrison

After a devastating loss, and a move across the world, a young mother rediscovers the healing power of family.

Heather Forester is losing her grip on reality. She turns up at the airport to meet her pilot husband, Brett—and then she remembers: he’s not coming back. Brett died months ago, leaving her lost in the crippling, confusing maze of widowhood.

Now alone with her seven-year-old twins, Heather craves the support of her mother and brother, who are halfway across the world in Scotland. But when she moves her fractured family to her homeland, their lives change in ways she never could have anticipated.

As her children struggle to fit in to their new home, family, and school, Heather also wrestles with the painful truth that she has become a stranger in her own hometown.

Surrounded by the rugged, breathtaking beauty of the Isle of Skye’s rocky coastline, velvet moors, and lush forests, Heather must face challenges old and new as she puts her life back together and learns the healing power of family.

Revised edition: This edition of Finding Heather includes editorial revisions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Oct 11, 2016
• ISBN: 9781531837402

Alison Ragsdale

Originally from Edinburgh, after spending two decades as a professional nomad, Alison now lives near Washington DC with her beloved husband and dog. She was educated in England and holds an MBA from Leicester University. Alison’s debut novel, Tuesday’s Socks, and her second, The Father-Daughter Club, are both Amazon bestsellers. The Father-Daughter Club was also awarded the IPPY 2016 Bronze Medal for Best Regional Fiction - Europe. Finding Heather is Alison’s third novel, and was released in October 2016. A Life Unexpected, Alison’s fourth novel, won a 2018 IPPY Bronze Medal in the Popular Fiction category. For more information on upcoming books go to www.alisonragsdale.com.

Reviews for Finding Heather

[hellonicole_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

** spoiler alert ** Finding Heather had the potential to be a true favorite for me, but there were just a few things that held it back. Once Heather makes the decision to move herself and her twins back to her home in Scotland, the story began to drag. There was a whole chapter about her cleaning out the closet. That's it. No big reveal, no hidden secrets of her deceased husband's. Just cleaning out the closet and finding pictures. I kept waiting for there to be some connection to be made, some hidden truth revealed. But nothing.I think the intention was to highlight that she loved and missed her husband, that this was a big, tough decision and that he had been a good guy. But for me, unless you give me a good reason why she wouldn't be sad about the death of her husband, I'm going to believe that he was a good guy and that she does miss him. For me the first third of the book seemed to drag with unnecessary little scenes that were setting up what I would already assume to be truth unless told otherwise.Once they get moved and Elspeth takes her tumble down the stairs and Max disappears, the pace picks up and the story seemed to flow much better. But then once again, once Max is found and back home, things began to drag again. Setting up the relationships between Heather and Fraser, Elspeth and Davy, and lastly Murdoch and Chrissy seemed to just drag on more than necessary. All of the setting up of the relationships could have been happening during actual action.All in all, Finding Heather is a sweet story of moving on, not just for Heather and her children but for many members of her family. I just feel as though there could have been more action moving the story along rather than little cut scenes.*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher/Netgalley in exchange for a review.