A Place for Kathy: A Novel [Hardcover]

Henry Denker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 16, 1997

Having lost her hemophiliac husband to a brain hemorrhage only to discover that she has contracted AIDS from him, Grace sets out to try to find a future home for her twelve-year-old daughter Kathy, in this story of loss and hope.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Kathy is an independent 12-year-old whose hemophiliac father died several years earlier, leaving the family with few financial resources. After his death, her mother, Grace, finds self-sufficiency in the form of Sleight of Hand?a calligraphy/gift-wrapping business. When Grace is diagnosed with AIDS, the two must find a loving home for Kathy before Grace dies. The well-meaning but tyrannical Uncle Harry presses to adopt Kathy, but Grace is determined to avoid this outcome. Kathy tries several trial living arrangements while Grace struggles to maintain her thriving shop. Their options diminish as Grace's condition worsens. Denker (To Marcy with Love, LJ 3/15/96) easily interweaves medical information into the heart-tugging but not maudlin search for Kathy's new home. Readers will be quickly caught up in the lives of these engaging characters. Recommended for public libraries.?Heather Blenkinsopp, Mercy Coll. Lib., Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Finding a place for her 13-year-old daughter, Kathy, is single-parent Grace Cameron's overpowering desire after she has been diagnosed with AIDS, which she contracted from her hemophiliac husband who died two years earlier in a mountain-climbing accident. At a clinic Grace and Kathy befriend Sara, an AIDS-stricken youngster who received the virus through her mother's pregnancy. Kathy develops a strong attachment to the little girl, but her condition worsens and she soon dies, leaving her grandmother brokenhearted. As the disease progresses, Grace considers all possibilities for Kathy's new home, from relatives on her husband's side (including his wealthy but domineering uncle Harry) to college and neighborhood friends to the family of Kathy's best pal. Each poses insurmountable problems. During monthly checkups, Grace--always accompanied by her ever-watchful daughter--learns about T cell and virus counts, branched DNA, Kaposi's sarcoma, and retinitis. Grace's dilemma of preparing for death from an incurable disease while turning over her child to a new family is timely and thought provoking. Jennifer Henderson

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1st edition (April 16, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688149634
• ISBN-13: 978-0688149635
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,806,408 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a heartwrenching story of a mother's love, November 16, 2001

By 

"barbpl" (MA ,USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Place for Kathy: A Novel (Hardcover)

What an amazing story about love, strength and determination. Grace, a widow with a 12 year old, discovers she is dying, and needs to find a family who will love her daughter.
I kept stopping while reading to check on my sleeping daughter, or just hug her. Any mom should read this...a reminder to count our blassings.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing novel that you'll carry with you for ages...., June 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Place for Kathy: A Novel (Hardcover)

I read this book and was just amazed at how in put you in touch with what a person dying of AIDS is going through. Denker is an amazing author and really tore at your heart with this book. My mother read it, reccomended it to me, and by the time I was done, I was hugging her and thanking God she wasn't dying like Grace Cameron, because Kathy had to be suffering at knowing she would lose the person most important to her.

5.0 out of 5 stars There's no love like a mother's love!, January 12, 2001

By 

"booksvstv" (Charlotte, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Place for Kathy: A Novel (Hardcover)

As a mother, I read this book with a clenched heart! The outpouring of love from a mother to child is overwhelming in the best of circumstances. Grace had strength that could have only been God-given! A 'must' read for all who have ever loved a child.