Up From the Blue by Susan Henderson

Up From the Blue is the story of a troubled woman, Tillie, who has completely cut herself off from her father and who has chosen to remain angry and alienated from him rather than accept his misguided attempts to protect her from the truth about her mother who was a desperately ill woman.   The framed tale of Tillie tells the story of a girl who grows up in a most dysfunctional family.  Tillie's father is a lifelong military man who is married to a bipolar, manic depressive woman.  Unfortunately, Tillie must forge a path toward adulthood with these two adults as her models.  Needless to say, she struggled.  Her childhood is related to us through flashbacks that are painful to uncover.  This poor little girl was never given the chance to understand what was happening to her mother because her father decided it would be better to keep everything a secret.  As a result, Tillie hated him. She never saw the part her mother played in the deception and cover up and consequently never held her mother accountable.  The reader sees that Tillie (as an adult) has problems of her own that she is ignoring.  We are left to wonder if she will continue to become more like her mother as she ages and has children of her own.  The book was well written and definitely opened itself for good discussion. It was not a book that was uplifting or encouraging but perhaps it is the type of book that we should read in order to open a discussion about forgiveness and acceptance.