Author:Terri DuLong
ISBN-10: 0-758-23204-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-7582-3204-5
KensingtonTrade Paperback
Publication Date: November 2009

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This story gripped me from the very first page. So many novels for women, are about young women overcoming tragedy and obstacles in their lives. There are few I have found as compelling as Terri Dulong's new novel, Spinning Forward. She gave me what I wanted...a woman over fifty, making it on her own for the first time in her life and without a man. She was vulnerable, yet gutsy and you couldn't help but say "You go, girlfriend!"

 Sydney Webster's husband of 28 years, died in a car crash. He had been a successful physician and she did not need to work and hadn't since they got married. She was 52, living in the upscale Boston area. Their marriage wasn't exactly passionate or romantic, but it was secure. Two weeks following the funeral, Sydney was served with eviction papers. She had a month to vacate the property. Seems Stephen had a gambling problem that she wasn't aware of. Monica, Sydney's grown daughter initially gave her a hard time about the mess that she was in after Stephen's death. Monica couldn't understand how her mother could not have known what was happening with their finances.

 Her best friend from long ago college years took in Sydney and her dog, Lilly. Ali lived in small town Cedar Key, Florida and ran a bed and breakfast. While staying at the bed and breakfast, Sydney was enjoying her hobby of knitting and spinning her dog's fur. A patron of the bed and breakfast saw her spinning the fur and talked Sydney into spinning her dog's fur. A deal was made and when the woman went back home, she mailed the fur to Sydney. More people heard about this unusual hobby and Sydney's new livelihood was born. After much soul searching, Sydney took the plunge and opened a store on the main street of Cedar Key and named it Spinning Forward. She sold yarn and ran a mail order business for spinning animal fur into yarn. It had it's ups and downs, but Sydney was determined to make it on her own.

Things were beginning to come together for Sydney, but she still felt something was missing. Sydney had been adopted as a baby and with the encouragement of her friend, Ali and her grown daughter, Monica, she decided to search for her birth mother. She filled out information on an adoption website, but received no helpful leads. Meanwhile, in Cedar Key, where she had never lived, people were constantly saying she looked familiar and asked if they had met. It was downright strange.

Sydney also met a man in Cedar Key, who was an artist. They didn't hit it off at first. Noah had wanted the shop that she opened her store in, but she beat him to it. They did begin dating, though. It was not smooth sailing. Sydney was finding herself for the first time in her life and she was not going to let any man make her decisions for her, especially after the betrayal of her husband. When Sydney began dating Noah, Monica was less than pleased, until she realized her mother could survive and make her own decisions.

Spinning Forward was a story of finding one's feminine self, releasing fear and taking in understanding. Finding ones authentic self. I loved it. The last few pages of the book  have several discussion questions making it a great jumping off point for a fun book club discussion with girlfriends.

 
Click Here To Purchase Spinning Forward