What would you do if you knew you would have to say a final goodbye to someone you love? When is it the right time to let go, and when should you hold on? Julie Lawson Timmer tackles these questions with fierce emotion in her first novel, Five Days Left. It's the moving story of a countdown for two characters who never meet in person, but have become friends through a parenting website.

Mara Nichols has a plan to end her life. She has already chosen a date—five days from now, her birthday. The "garage cocktail" will put an end to the suffering she has endured since being diagnosed with Huntington's disease. Mara's husband and 5-year-old daughter, Lakshmi, are unaware of Mara's plan. Though Mara doesn't want to leave her family, she also doesn't want to wait for Huntington's to take over her body, a progression Timmer describes in brutal prose. Mara's hands move uncontrollably; she develops a drunken-looking gait; she can no longer drive. All these things solidify Mara's resolve to take her life.

Scott Coffman also has just five days left—but his countdown involves time spent with his precocious and endearing foster child, Curtis, who is to be returned to his birth mother once she finishes a sentence in prison. But a sudden turn of events causes Scott to consider a future with Curtis. His pregnant wife is reluctant, and Scott finds himself faced with a choice between Curtis' needs and those of his wife.

Five Days Left presents the kind of ethical dilemma that readers love. The characters are relatable; their choices will be the topic of fierce debate at the next book club. Timmer's novel is a heartbreaker, but it is also a stirring debut.

 

This article was originally published in the September 2014 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

A successful attorney, happily married wife, and mother to a beautiful adopted five-year-old daughter, Mara Nichols has led a charmed life. Then she is diagnosed with debilitating, degenerative, and deadly Huntington's disease. Her case progresses so rapidly that she's soon suffering from memory loss, physical tics, and incontinence. She ultimately sets a date to end her life and now has five days left in which to prepare herself, tidy her affairs, and say goodbye to her loved ones, including her friend Scott Coffman, a schoolteacher Mara met on an online forum for adoptive parents. Scott is facing a goodbye of his own, to the eight-year-old boy he's fostered and fallen in love with and who is due to return to his biological mother—in five days. VERDICT Told in the alternating voices of Mara and Scott, Timmer's debut novel packs a powerful punch. Absorbing, deeply affecting, and ultimately uplifting, it heralds the arrival of an author to watch. Perfect for fans of thoughtful, controversial fiction such as Lisa Genova's Still Alice, Elizabeth Berg's Never Change, and Kristin Hannah's Night Road. [See Prepub Alert, 3/17/14.]—Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Lib., NY

Wife, mother, and top-notch lawyer, Mara Nichols is losing her battle with a fatal disease and wants to say good-bye quickly, while middle school teacher Scott Coffman dreads having to part with the eight-year-old boy he's been fostering. Rights to 12 countries.

This starkly intimate epistolary novel that follows the diaries of two parents—one a dying mother, the other a foster dad—dissects the experiences of losing hope and finding strength. Mara, declining precipitously from Huntington's disease, makes final preparations for adored adopted daughter Lakshmi, loving husband Tom, doting parents, and best friends Steph and Gina—all with the help of a lost-soul cabbie looking for redemption. Meanwhile, Scott has been an adoptive father for his inner-city foster son, Curtis, but Curtis's biological mother will be released from prison in five days. Scott and his wife, Laurie, are preparing for the upcoming birth of a daughter but his life is thrown into chaos when a tragic turn of events forces him to choose between Curtis and the imagined peace of life without him. Timmell makes a powerful debut with these tautly drawn parallel dramas: Mara decides to cut short a decline she believes will destroy her family, and Scott risks his marriage to give Curtis a future. (Sept.)