Twelve Times Blessed [Hardcover]

Jacquelyn Mitchard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003

Jacquelyn Mitchard is one of America's best-loved storytellers. Fans adore her novels for their exquisite, gripping stories about family bonds. Now this master of the drama of daily life offers readers a different kind of boy-meets-girl tale, by turns frank and playful, that ponders the question: Can love conquer marriage?

It is True Dickinson's forty-third birthday, and her best friends have gathered on this snowy night in Cape Cod at a trendy neighborhood restaurant to celebrate. True has never felt more alone.

It's been eight years since the death of her husband, a pilot who, ironically, died in a car crash, leaving her to raise their son on her own. Both her son and her small business are thriving, and True's life is full. The success of her company, the love of her friends, and the proximity of her mother (for better and for worse) leave her with very little time for reflection, but if not now, when? Coming up on forty-three makes True realize that there is an empty space in her life that friends and family cannot fill. She feels her youth and beauty slipping away, and the possibility for romance has never seemed more remote.

But everything will change the moment True and her beloved assistant, Isabelle, slide into a snow-filled ditch on the drive home. Saved by a young man she met earlier at the restaurant, True comes face-to- face with the opportunity to let love back into her life -- that is, if she can overcome her own fears, and if these two spirits can find a way to tame each other's wild hearts and to curb their supremely independent natures.

Twelve Times Blessed is the story of one year of transformation in a woman's life, and an unforgettable tale of the perils and pleasures of love in the modern age.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of The Deep End of the Ocean delivers once again in this overstuffed story about a middle-aged woman's complicated second marriage. She chronicles one year in the life of True Dickinson, the owner of a thriving mail-order business on Cape Cod. Widowed for eight years, she is raising her 10-year-old son, Guy, with the help of her office assistant, Isabelle, and her controlling mother, Kathleen. On her 43rd birthday, she is lamenting her lack of love life when fate, in the form of a road accident, brings her together with Hank Bannister, a man 10 years younger than she. They court and marry quickly-then life gets tricky. Having been freewheeling most of his life, Hank is loath to accept his new responsibilities. True, for her part, must do more than just pencil him into her structured life; he wants to feel needed and integral. Hank, a sexy chef of Creole background, is as much a laid-back Southerner as True is a mistrustful New Englander. "He may be one in a million. Or this may be the biggest ratio of bullshit since time began," True thinks. Mitchard infuses the courtship and domestic life with gentle humor. Kathleen is a caricature of the withholding mother, but such characters as True's brother, Dog; her new mother-in-law, Clothilde; and True herself resonate with distinctive voices as Mitchard explores the intimate details involved in making a family work.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The widowed True Dickinson feels a bit wistful on her 43rd birthday, but love shows up when she lands in a ditch on the way home from her birthday party. Look for a one-day laydown.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 544 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1ST edition (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0066214750
• ISBN-13: 978-0066214757
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,641,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jacquelyn Mitchard was born in Chicago. Her first novel, The Deep End of the Ocean, was published in 1996, becoming the first selection of the Oprah Winfrey Book Club and a number one New York Times bestseller. Eight other novels, four children's books and six young adult novels followed, including The Midnight Twins, Still Summer, All We Know of Heaven, and The Breakdown Lane. A former daily newspaper reporter, Mitchard now is a contributing editor for Parade Magazine, and frequently writes for such publications as More magazine and Real Simple. Her essays and short stories have been widely anthologized. An adjunct professor in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program at Fairfield University, she lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their nine children

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars YUCK!, May 1, 2003

By 

Happy Scherer (Delmar, NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Twelve Times Blessed (Hardcover)

I have to agree with most of the previous reviews. This one is a disappointing, incredibly long read that I plodded through without much enthusiasm. The heroine, True, is a very immature woman who is impossible to like. She continues to do incredibly self-destructive things, is a lousy mother to her so-called beloved son, and doesn't listen to a word anyone says. She's condescending to everyone - including the medical professionals who saved her son's life. Her so-called beloved, Hank, is equally a jerk. But I didn't need 500 pages to find out that they deserve each other. Even the minor characters were neither interesting nor likeable. I have found Mitchard in the past, for example in her first book, to show a great insight into the issues and "voice" of adolescence - but I'm not sure she hits the mark with Guy - a pretty obnoxious kid. The adults in this story seem hell bent on [messing] him up as much as possible - his self-obsessed mother ignores his medical symptoms, slaps him across the face when he's in the hospital, talks about washing his mouth out with soap for swearing, and obviously emotionally drags him through hell and back during her ambivalent new marriage. It's hard to like a heroine who supposedly is motherhood personified when she's such a jerk. Finally, I don't understand this author's obsession with sexual issues and body fluids. Much more information than I need to know - for example - who wants to hear about a 10 year old boy's balls flapping as he runs down the stairs? Come on!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Waste of Time, May 22, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Twelve Times Blessed (Hardcover)

I began this book with hopeful anticipation but it wasn't too long before I considered abandoning Mitchard's 500+ page book. Finally, it was all just too much nonsense as just about every sub-plot in noveldom was dragged into the story. I suppose True, the main character, and Hank, the "younger" man exist somewhere, but I don't want to know them. Or even care about them. It's rare that I don't finish a book but midway through (why did I read that far?) I skipped to the last chapter and realized I'd wasted far too much time. A huge disappointment.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I feel violated., August 23, 2004

By 

T. A. Kane (Portland, Maine) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Twelve Times Blessed (Hardcover)

I was a huge fan of Mitchard's other books, but this one was just awful. Like other reviewers, I kept reading thinking that it would get better. IT DOESN'T! I don't understand how this book got published. The damage to Mitchard's standing will be long-lasting. (...) It was just awful!