Husband remarked mildly the other day it might be time for me to move the pile of books teetering on my bedside locker in case they topple in the night.
I'm hopeless, I really am.
I had originally intended to include several reviews in this post but today I will have just this one.
The reason I have said this is a very special book review session is because for me, it is.
I've just finished reading a book that moved me enormously, partly because of the connection I feel I have with this story, but also because of how beautifully it was written.
The story was written by a former sewing teacher of mine at school. I was hopeless at sewing, but Mrs Glennon was a patient teacher.
She is also a mother.
Her daughter Ciara, who was a few years ahead of me at school, was the victim of the Claremont Serial Killer. So too, was the younger sister of a girl in my year at school. Her name was Sarah. I still remember Sarah and her beautiful beaming face throughout my time at school. Their tragic fate haunted everyone, more so by the fact that Sarah's body was never found and to this day the killer has not been caught.
It is a strange thing to be caught up, even tangentially in such horrific events. Events that one sees only on the news or in awful crime scene documentaries. Except for these families and the family of the third victim Jane Rimmer it was all too painfully real.
Una Glennon has written this book about her journey following the murder of Ciara Glennon called: "Ciara's gift."
I wish I could adequately articulate the impact this book had on me, what I will say is that it was a book about hope and as Mrs Glennon says towards the end of her narrative: " I know that for whatever reason, suffering and joy go hand in hand. If I am prepared to accept one,  must I not also be prepared to accept the other? We can only experience through opposites."
The book follows her journey through the shattering and gradual rebuilding of her faith, and also gives an all too painful insight into the relentless media intrusion endured by the family at the time and on subsequent anniversaries.
I scribbled down many of the words of wisdom she drew from philosophers, poets and the Bible throughout her journey. We all experience differing degree of suffering and loss and this book contains many words of comfort for such times.
I thought it fitting the subtitle for the book is "grief etched with gold." I understand exactly what this means.
The book is about Una's journey but it also shows the impact of such a shattering event on her relationship with her husband and their daughter Denise. I cringed at how she recounted that her other daughter Denise had to work at the hospital where her sister's body lay in the days after it's discovery. I remember attending a mass at my school during the awful days following Ciara's disappearance and seeing the awful, heavy grief etched in Denise's face at the time. The loss of a sibling is a horrific event.
The book is a search for faith, for meaning when it seems there can be none. Una is unflinching in describing those times and equally about the amazing, mystical experiences that she also underwent throughout the years.
For anyone who had experienced loss or tragedy the way she describes how different people responded will resonate. From those who bought meals or listened quietly, to the person who deliberately weaved their way to the opposite side of the road to avoid meeting her, will be all too familiar.
As a mother myself now I read this book amazed at her capacity for forgiveness and her new found understanding.
Mrs Glennon, you may not have succeeded in teaching me to sew, but you have taught me a phenomenal amount about the importance of living in the present moment because as you so wisely say: "it is the only moment where I can truly experience life."