Walking with Her Daughter [Bargain Price] [Paperback]

Jessica Barksdale Inclan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2005

When the life of Jenna's daughter is cut short in a matter of seconds, the forty-five-year-old professor must survive the grief that threatens to consume her, and come to terms with her relationship with her ex-husband and a newfound attraction to a younger colleague. And when events again take an unexpected turn, Jenna is blessed with another chance to correct the mistakes of the past, open her heart more fully, and embrace the fragility and miracle of life made new.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Jenna Thomas is in Bali doing the unthinkable, looking for her daughter, Sofie, allegedly the victim of a terrorist attack. She prays that it is a mistake, but when Sofie's body is found, Jenna must confront the fact that her young, beautiful daughter is dead. Her ex-husband, Mark, finds her at the hotel, and they console each other physically, something they haven't done since the divorce and Mark's remarriage. Then, after Jenna goes home to California, her life starts to unravel. She can no longer sympathize with her students at a community college: they are alive and her daughter is dead. She also must deal with her younger boyfriend, Tim. He reminds her of youth, and she is having a hard time being alive while the daughter who was everything to her is no more. As Inclan delves into one woman's pain as she reconciles loss with a new life, she grants readers insight into the resiliency of the human spirit in a touching and very human story. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Jessica Barksdale Inclán teaches writing, mythology, and women's literature at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California. She lives with her husband and two sons. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• ISBN-10: 0451214153
• ASIN: B000GG4F72
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,465,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jessica Barksdale Inclan's debut novel Her Daughter's Eyes, published in 2001, was the premier novel published under New American Library's new imprint Accent. Her Daughter's Eyes was a final nominee for the YALSA Award for the best books of 2001 and best paperbacks for 2001 and has been published in Dutch and Spanish. Her next novel The Matter of Grace was published in May 2002 and was re-released in a mass market version in May 2004. Her third, When You Go Away, came out April 1, 2003. Her fourth, One Small Thing, was published April 2004, and has been published in Dutch and Spanish. Her fifth, Walking With Her Daughter, was published in April 2005. The Instant When Everything is Perfect was published in February 2006. In June 2006, she published the first in a trilogy from Kensington Books. When You Believe was followed by Reason to Believe and Believe in Me. Being with Him, Intimate Beings, and The Beautiful Being (October 2009) are the novels in her second trilogy. She is a 2002 recipient of the CAC Artist's Fellowship in Literature. Incl'n teaches composition, creative writing, mythology, and women's literature at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California, and on-line creative writing courses for UCLA extension. She has studied with Sharon Olds, Anne Lamott, Kate Braverman, Grace Paley, Marjorie Sandor, and Cristina Garcia. Her short stories and poems have appeared in Rockhurst Review, Hotwired, The Salt Hill Journal, Free Lunch, The West Wind Review, The Prairie Star, Gargoyle and many other journals and newspapers. Her short story Open Eyes was given first prize by Sandra Cisneros for El Andar magazine's 2000 writing contest. She co-edited a women's literature/studies textbook Diverse Voices of Women (Mayfield Publishing, 1995). Ms. Inclan has degrees in sociology and English literature from CSU Stanislaus and a Master's degree in English literature from SFSU. Ms. Inclan lives in Oakland, California and is currently at work on her next novel. Find her Kindle books on Amazon, starting with The Wolf at the Window.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Walking With Her Daugher!, April 24, 2005

By 

Louise Jolly "Bookaholic" (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walking with Her Daughter (Mass Market Paperback)

Ms. Inclan tackles a uniquely sensitive subject-death! and the all encompassing grief that disables us humans as we wade through the muck and mire of 'what if's' and 'should have done's.'

Jenna Thomas is a 45-year-old divorced professor who has dedicated her life to Sofie, her high spirited, full of life, red-headed 20-year old daughter. Jenna's life while married to Sofie's father Mark, a doctor, was strained and never fully acknowledged or discussed during the marriage or after Mark's marriage to his new wife Renata.

With Sofie away at college and now on a trip to Bali with her boyfriend Robert, Jenna delves into her other passion-teaching. Little does Jenna know her life is about to change forever, upsetting what she thought was a good life with a job, friends and balance. Jenna must now face one of the biggest heart wrenching, gut searing, emotion ripping events of her life, losing her beloved, precious Sofie.

Jenn's emotions are so chaffed, so raw that she wants to "...bleed into the water..." until she can see her Sofie again.

With an all encompassing depression, Jenna visits Dr. Kovacic who prescribes medications to help her deal with her grief, her lack of sleep and her emotions but most importantly encourages Jenna to write in a journal.

As Jenna travels through her grief she relates and compares everyday things in life to being a Mom. Visiting her cousin, Jolie, after years of uninvolvement, Jenna views Jolie's painting studio as "a womb...a place where things are born...". The paintings anger Jenna who wants to remove them "...from the wall, smash them into parts, let her cousin feel what it was like to lose what she had made...", her daughter Sofie. Jenna's need to have everyone know and feel her pain, her suffering and her grief is crushing.

Jenna's relationship with Mark begins to change after Bali as does her relationship with her own boyfriend Tim. While attending a meditation at the Grand Canyon during a trip with Tim, Jenna believes she sees a "...circle of white light" and believes it is Sofie with her grandfather, Jenna's own passed on father.

After the meditation, Jenna make a startling discovery and must begin to acknowledge her past life, her current life and her future life. She must deal with her relationship with her ex-husband Mark, her newer relationship with Tim, her sudden reacquaintance with and just as sudden departure in her relationship with Jolie, her feelings of motherhood and whether she did it right. Did she smother Sofie? Give her too much? Protect her too often for too long? Give her the 'wings' to fly too soon?

This is a beautifully written novel of grief, desperation, the shattering of life and the new and powerful acknowledgement of change and the miracles that can happen in life.

In this fifth novel 'Walking With Her Daughter', you will experience a touching and profoundly daring story about one woman's grief, survival and hope for the future. I truly believe Ms. Inclan has outdone herself with this one!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love this Author!, April 22, 2005

By 

S. reilly "sreilly106" (neptune, nj United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walking with Her Daughter (Mass Market Paperback)

I just received this book as a gift and I can't wait to read it...I have read several other books by her and loved each one. If you haven't read any of her books yet you must pick one up asap...I will defiently post my review as soon as I am done...I am sure it will be just as good as the others :)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courageous and Beautiful, September 1, 2005

By 

C. Brooks (Venice, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walking with Her Daughter (Mass Market Paperback)

"Walking with Her Daughter" is a courageous and beautiful novel. Courageous because there is no pain on earth like that of the sudden, random death of a beloved only child. And beautiful because learning to bear that which is unbearable is the price of being human, of being capable of abiding love. Ms. Inclan tells the story of a mother's journey from the moment her dreams shatter before the sight of her collegiate daughter's lifeless body, through her ensuing day-to-day disorientation, and beyond this to the heroic efforts she makes to forge a new future over the ruins of the one that has been torn away.

I highly recommend all of Jessica Inclan's novels for their insightful rendering of our common, yet profound human nature.