The Last Things
Betta Ferrendelli
Last Things: A Story of Friendship, Of Love, Loss and Renewal opens with the specter of Bridgette's unborn baby girl, who may be born with Down Syndrome, and tells what happens when the father she's about to marry decides that this diagnosis is a deal-breaker.
The knowledge that he harbors some unacceptable behaviors and selfish attitudes shakes her world as much as her baby's diagnosis and so Bridgette finds her life course irreparably changed, as a result. But The Last Thingsisn't just about what happens next - it's about endings that bring new beginnings and new revelations to relationships: "I don’t think we can do it. I’ve been thinking about it since you told me. It would just change our lives too much and I don’t think it’s something we’re prepared or want to do. We’ve got great careers ahead of us. We’re going to go on to larger and better newspapers. We’re going to be a power couple. How can we be a power couple if we have a child with a disability to worry about?” Her eyes narrowed. “Elliott, we’re talking about our daughter, a little life we’ve made together. How can you think about being a power couple right now?”
There's even more going on than a decision over an unborn child: a woman has taken her life because of Bridgette, and this different kind of loss coupled with her own emotionally wrenching situation sends Bridgette onto a path she never could have conceived of taking.
Suddenly reporter Bridgette makes an about-face in her life, her career, and her entire world, walking out of set habits only to become involved in an accident that will send her life in yet another direction - this one, ultimately and hopefully, for the better.
Last Things is about how relationships end and begin. It's about how courses in life are challenged and changed, and tells how a woman who is responsible for two deaths finds the courage to face them and change who she is. Most of all, it's about selfishness in its various forms, love in its various forms, and surviving and even thriving in a life with a handicapped child.
The choices Bridgette makes brings readers along for a thought-provoking, emotionally filled adventure through love and friendship in a story that's grippingly hard to put down.
