If You Could See What I See
Written by Cathy Lamb
Narrated by Amy McFadden
4/5
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About this audiobook
In this moving, insightful new novel, acclaimed author Cathy Lamb delves into the heart of going home again, the challenge of facing loss—and the freedom of finally letting go…
For decades, the women in Meggie O’Rourke’s family have run Lace, Satin, and Baubles, a lingerie business that specializes in creations as exquisitely pretty as they are practical. The dynamic in Meggie’s family, however, is perpetually dysfunctional. In fact, if Meggie weren’t being summoned back to Portland, Oregon, by her grandmother, she’d be inclined to stay away all together.
Since her husband’s death a year ago, Meggie’s emotions have been in constant flux, and so has her career as a documentary film maker. Finding ways to keep the family business afloat—and dealing with her squabbling sister and cousin—will at least give her a temporary focus. To draw customers to their website, Meggie decides to interview relatives and employees about their first bras and favorite lingerie. She envisions something flip and funny, but the confessions that emerge are unexpectedly poignant. There are stories of first loves and aching regrets, passionate mistakes and surprising rendezvous. And as the revelations illuminate her family’s past, Meggie begins to find her own way forward.
With warmth and unflinching humor, If You Could See What I See explores the tender truths we keep close—and what can happen when we find the courage to bare them to the world.
Cathy Lamb
Cathy Lamb lives in Oregon. She is married with three children. She writes late at night when it’s just her and the moon and a few shooting stars.
More audiobooks from Cathy Lamb
What I Remember Most Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whale Island: A Selection from the Almost Home anthology Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5
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Reviews for If You Could See What I See
30 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If You Could See What I See by Cathy LambThe sisters are now running the lingerie shop and they are under financial stress. Lots of talk of the design work, manufacturing and all aspects of this career.They have their own lives outside the shop and there is much talk of their sex lifes and the workers who've been with them from the start.Funny and sad at the same time but really draws you into everything that is going on. Like how things are in the present day but they tell you of the past which makes the whole story believable.Love the fashion story and what a hit it was with the designers creations!I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lace, Satin and baubles, a company ran by Meggie's grandma, a cousin and a sister, Tory and Lacey, is having financial problems and Meggie, recently widowed, moves back home to help out. Aaron, Meggie's husband, had undisclosed mental health problems and throughout their marriage, his bipolar personality erupted in meanness and manipulation. His final violent assault left Meggie with post traumatic stress disorder and she decided to leave the traumatic environment to answer her grandma's weekly call to help with the lingerie business.Cathy Lamb wrote a novel that will keep you awake until you finish it.You will applaud her as she struggles to put her PTSD behind her and move forward with the business, keeping Tory and Lacey on track.With romance, humor, business outsourcing, domestic violence and a celibate mother who makes a living lecturing on sex issues a reader could get lost. The author is able to weave all of the above into one engrossing novel, ending on a happy note. I highly recommend this newest novel by Ms. Lamb to all readers, and especially those who think romantic novels are boring with no new plot. Family life has never been more accurately detailed in such a humorous, loving way.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This isn't the first novel I have read by Cathy Lamb, in 2011 I borrowed Henry's Sisters from the library and though I never wrote a full review I gave the book five stars and wrote "I would give it more if I could." When I finished If You Could See What I See, the first thing I did was make a note that read "I laughed, I cried, I loved!" and the second thing I did was to order the author's entire back list.Articulating why I so adored this novel is difficult because I can't isolate one particular element that I can identify as extraordinary. There is just something about the way in which Lamb writes that works for me.In simplistic terms, the story of If You Could See What I See begins when Meggie O'Rourke, still struggling with the fall out from her disastrous marriage, returns home to Oregon to rescue her beloved grandmother's failing lingerie company from financial ruin. Buffeted by her grandmother's indomitable will and her sisters rivalry, Meggie has to find a way to secure both herself, and Lace, Satin and Baubles, a future.But If You Could See What I See offers so much more than this neat summary reveals. The shocking truth of Meggie's marriage, the complex dynamics of her family and their relationships, the foundation on which the company was built and the lives of the people who work for it, all create a story that is both hilarious and heartbreaking. Similarly, the characters will shock and surprise you, from Brianna O'Rourke's frank discussions about sexual satisfaction on national TV to Hayden's revelation that he is a girl stuck in a boy's body.There is grief, pain and tragedy, deeply felt and sensitively explored, but all tempered by heart, humour and even romance. A story about love, family and courage, I laughed, I cried, I loved!