Two brothers, Abe and Mort, share a two-family house. Their wives, Helen and Rose, are close friends until the night they both give birth. Helen and Abe have four boys and pray they will be blessed with a girl. Rose and Abe have three girls and all Mort wants is a boy to carry on his family name and take over his part in their family business. While the brothers are away, their wives give birth in their home with only a midwife to help, during a blizzard. Their lives will never be the same after that fateful night. THE TWO-FAMILY HOUSE by Lynda Cohen Loigman is a debut novel and filled with family heartache that will keep you flipping the pages late into the night to find out what is going to happen next.
The two families could not be more different. THE TWO- FAMILY HOUSE shows how Abe is the happy fun loving Dad, while Mort comes across as cold and uncaring and most of the time quite unhappy. The relationship between Helen and Rose is the core of this heartbreaking story, and you won't be able to help but feel the women's pain as you are reading. There is a secret between them, and while you think you might know what it is, trust me, you won't be able to put this wonderful story down.
I still can't believe THE TWO-FAMILY HOUSE is a debut novel. The characters are so real and believable; they feel as if they are people you know and really care about. They made me laugh and they made me cry and all the while I was holding my breath, afraid of what was going to come next. Secrets will be revealed and heartbreak comes along with tragedy, which had me going through so many different emotions and feelings. Lynda Cohen Loigman sure knows how families work, and she was spot on with the tug of war most of us go through with our own families. I cannot wait to read more by this wonderful author. I really enjoyed THE TWO-FAMILY HOUSE and had a hard time putting it down. Near the end I tried to read slower just because I didn't want to say goodbye to THE TWO-FAMILY HOUSE and all the lovable people inside.
Brooklyn, 1947: in the midst of a blizzard, in a two-family brownstone, two babies are born minutes apart to two women. They are sisters by marriage with an impenetrable bond forged before and during that dramatic night; but as the years progress, small cracks start to appear and their once deep friendship begins to unravel. No one knows why, and no one can stop it. One misguided choice; one moment of tragedy. Heartbreak wars with happiness and almost but not quite wins.
From debut novelist Lynda Cohen Loigman comes The Two-Family House, a moving family saga filled with heart, emotion, longing, love, and mystery.
EXCERPT
She walked down the stairs of the old two-family house in
the dark, careful not to slip. The steps were steep and
uneven, hidden almost entirely beneath the snow. It had
been falling rapidly for hours and there had been too
much excitement going on inside the house for anyone to
think about shoveling steps for a departing midwife.
Perhaps if the fathers of the two babies born had been
present, they would have thought to shovel. But the storm
had prevented their return, and neither had been home.
She breathed in the cold night air, happy to be outside
at last, away from the heat and closeness of the birthing
room. How grateful she was for the sudden burst of wind
that slammed the door shut behind her, shaking her out of
her exhaustion and signaling the finality of the evening.
She loved her work and cherished the intimacy of it. But
it was not a pleasure outing.
Before today she thought she had seen every permutation
of circumstance: the girls who cried out for their own
mothers even as they became mothers themselves; the older
women who marked themselves as cursed, suddenly bursting
with joy over a healthy child come to them at last. She
thought she had heard every kind of sound a person could
make, witnessed every expression the human face could
conjure up out of pain, joy or grief. That was what she
thought before this evening.
This night was different. Never before had she seen such
longing, pain and relief braided together more tightly.
Two mothers, two babies, born only minutes apart. She
had witnessed tonight what pure woman strength could
accomplish, how the mind could control the body out of
absolute desperation.
She had watched, and she had ignored. She had taken
charge, yet she was absent. She let them believe that
her confusion was real, that she was tired. But she was
never confused. She was not too tired to comprehend
their hopes. The fragile magic of that night had not been
lost on her.
She breathed in the air again, crisp and cold, clearing
her head. It had been a good night, two healthy babies
born to healthy, capable mothers. She couldnβt ask for
more. What happened now was out of her hands. Wholly and
completely she put it out of her mind, said her goodbyes
to the house on the steps and made her way home to go to
sleep. There would be more babies tomorrow, she knew,
and the constancy of her work would keep her thoughts
from this place. She promised herself never to think of
it again.
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