This is a story about Claire, who has worked very hard to build her own business into a very successful one, while raising two children, and loving her husband, even through his failing business dealings. While on a business trip, she walks into the front door, soon to be served divorce papers, an order to vacate the house, and her husband wants sole custody of the kids. Totally a shock! He had done his "homework" and had gathered lots of (circumstantial) evidence against her, (lies) why she wasn't a good mother, to gain all he wanted from her---money, house and kids. The courts go along with it all. Her husband even made it hard on her to travel to visit her own mother who was on her deathbed, forcing her to choose between being a good mother and a good daughter. The guy is a total jerk!Through it all, though, she becomes a much stronger, tougher person.This book was scary to me, another reminder that you just never know another person completely, or what can happen the next minute...a wake-up call. I was completely drawn into her life and situations. He was so resentful of her and all she had, that his resentment turned to hate and he wanted to take it all away from her.Couple of quotes:"Funny thing, a woman's guilt. We blame ourselves when things go wrong, far more than we praise ourselves when things go right, and when we do the latter, someone calls us arrogant, which discourages further praise and encourages further blame, which suits men just fine. It wasn't fair at all.""Some said that love and hate were two extremes of the same emotion. I didn't know about that. I did know that what I felt for Dennis in my anger was stronger than most anything I had felt for him before. If that meant what I thought it did, the overall shape of my marriage had been pretty sad, and if 'that' was true, what was sad was my blind adherence to it."
Poor woman... I really don't want to be in her shoes NEVER Indeed, now it scares me the idea that this can happen to me because this can happen to any woman.Exactly. This story is about a successful and committed-to-her-children woman, Claire, who one evening returns from a difficult business trip and her husband hands her divorce papers along with a court order to vacate their house.Yes, she has to leave her house and leave her children because he has custody of her children. Mind-blowing.This is a story about a mother who doesn't give up despite THAT SON OF A BIT** called Dennis.---------------El juez y el psicólogo eran unos machistas de mier**. Que ganas de dar cachetadas a dos manos, me sacaron de quicio.
What do You think about A Woman's Place (2008)?
Quick read and a bit unsettling. Tells of a successful woman, who seemingly has combined motherhood, marriage and business.. When she returns from visiting her terminally ill mother in another state, she is served with a court order that gives full custody of her children to her husband and evicts her from her home. As she fights the unthinkable, she finds strength and resources within herself that she didn't know she had. Things don't make sense as she and her newly hired lawyer fight an uphill battle to restore her children to her.It helps that money is not an issue and she can afford to buy another home (yes, a lighthouse). If the court system described in the book exists in real life, it is scary. Ultimately she uncovers the crux of the problem and can then fight it.
—Peg
The story of a woman to suddenly finds herself in the middle of a divorce proceeding and child custody battle that she never saw coming. Despite the fact that she's always tried to be the best wife and mother possible, all the cards seem stacked against her. In the midst of all of this turmoil she's also dealing with her dying mother and a successful but demanding business. This would make a great Lifetime movie and it made for a fairly good read. Nothing too unexpected but entertaining enough for the genre.
—Teresa
The book brought me to a place of pure surprise. I never thought that a woman who tried to have it all and seemed sucessful at it could lead to such a good read. Claire Raphael worked hard as a wife, mother and business woman, and had it all turned around in a moment. The moment her husband served her divorce papers with an order to vacate their home and a summons to see the judge the following week. I was like no he didn't. I enjoyed how Claire came to examine her life, her husband and her role as a parent...the story raised issues of can you do it all, or will you fall short. If you do what are your priorities, and can any one person meet the challenges facing woman and men to do it all and do it well. Highly recommend this read it was just that good.
—Joyce
