My Thoughts:
To Lay To Rest Our Ghosts by Caitlin Hamilton Summie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
5 short story stars (even if you don’t typically like short stories!) to To Lay To Rest Our Ghosts! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
This book has won multiple awards, and after reading all the stories, it’s no wonder why. Caitlin Hamilton Summie is adept at writing deeply emotional short stories with a single thread uniting them .
Themes we can all relate to of family, reconciliation, and home going, resound within these pages with simple and quiet, yet deeply profound words. I found myself highlighting passages on most every page.
Even if you do not typically enjoy short stories, this is a collection to give a try. Nothing is clipped or rushed. There is plenty of resonance, much on which to reflect, and the loosely-tied themes bring them all together and offer a smooth connection. This book made me fall in love with the short story.
“We’re from the same place, but we have different geographies of the heart.”
Thank you to Caitlin Hamilton Summie for the complimentary copy. I will be revisiting this beauty!
Synopsis:
Finalist, Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards for Short Stories
Featured in The Millions Most-Anticipated The Great Second-Half 2017 Book Preview
Selected for 35 Over 35’s 2017 List
A Pulpwood Queen Book Club Bonus Book for June 2018
In these ten elegantly written short stories, Caitlin Hamilton Summie takes readers from WWII Kansas City to a poor, drug-ridden neighborhood in New York, from western Massachusetts to woodsy Wisconsin, and from the quiet of rural Minnesota to its pulsing Twin Cities, each time navigating the geographical boundaries that shape our lives as well as the geography of tender hearts, loss, and family bonds. Deeply moving and memorable, To Lay To Rest Our Ghosts examines the importance of family, the defining nature of place, the need for home, and the hope of reconciliation.
Jennifer ~ Tar Heel Reader 
Beautiful review, Jennifer! 💖
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Thanks, my sweet friend! Xo 😘
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Lovely review Jennifer!💜
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Thank you, Berit! 💗
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Lovely review! I always struggle with short stories (except horror stories which I love). With straight fiction though, I often find they feel a bit like fragments of novels, so it’s always nice to come across a collection that has themes running through it – it makes them feel more substantial than just individual stories can sometimes feel.
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Thank you, FF! I think the author really worked to have that loose tie-in that so many of us yearn for with short stories. There was so much depth in each one, too, that really added to the experience of reading them.
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Wonderful review Jennifer! 💜
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Thank you, dear Lindsay! Xo
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I am not much of a short story reader but from your review, it does sound alluring. I will see if my library will get it.
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I hope you can get a copy, Marialyce! I’m interested in what you will think about it!
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I do enjoy short stories, but usually when the end I feel like I want more. lol This sounds fantastic.
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Thanks, Holly! I think you may enjoy this one then!
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I deeply appreciate your review, thank you! I am quite touched to hear that the stories resonated and that you also enjoyed the writing. Thank you so very much.
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Caitlin, you are very welcome! It was my pleasure! I am sorry it took me longer than I would have liked to read this beautiful book of stories.
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