A School of Daughters

IT'S FUNNY HOW THINGS SNEAK UP ON YOU...

Kate Willoughby is a champion for throwaways--discarded dogs and cats, abandoned horses bound for slaughter, and all creatures great and small. But she never imagined she'd be a throwaway like an old dog dumped by the side of a road. Is there a champion for Kate?

After 22 years of marriage, Kate loves her husband, Brian, with an even greater passion than when she spoke her vows. “My world spins on his axis,” she often says. But when Kate finds a love letter to Brian from Micky, she’s torn between proving Brian’s innocence and nailing him to the wall with his guilt.

Throughout her marriage, Kate has been trusting and trustworthy--to a fault, friends have said. Now she steals into Brian's emails and accesses his credit card accounts, phone records, bank statements, friends and activities, discovering the metaphoric iceberg beneath his affair.

Turning to the one constant in her life, Kate is guided by her family of animals: shelter dog Molly; Premarin horse Quinn; packrat Winston; owls Albert and Victoria; Stubby, the chipmunk; rattlesnake Cassandra; and Phineas, the determined grosbeak. These wise and wonderful teachers, along with a wild menagerie on Kate's Arizona ranch, deliver lessons on life, love, and letting go. But it's Molly, in a heartbreaking act of courage, who leads Kate back to her true self, before she became lost in love with Brian.

Shining a light on the childhood events and adult choices that, like stepping stones, brought her to this moment, Kate illuminates a familiar and well-travelled path. Narrating her story with equal parts of heartache and humor, Kate comes to understand that nothing sneaks up on you that isn't already here. Learning from Phineas, the determined grosbeak, Kate realizes that, even after a devastating injury, you can soar again.