The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartwin (St.
Martin’s Press, August)
Rabbit Hayes is dying of cancer---sooner rather than later,
but she is not going down without a fight.
In Hospice, surrounded by her loving, raucous Irish family, Rabbit makes
peace with her fate and shores up those she is leaving behind, including her twelve-year-old
daughter Juliet.
Rabbit’s mother Molly is fighting for her daughter with
every ounce of her being while her father Jack just wants to hide from everyone
and everything. Rabbit’s older sister
Grace has four sons of her own to care form, along with a husband, but is
willing to rearrange her life for Juliet if necessary. Rabbit’s brother Davey left Ireland for a
career in country music in America and has returned home to be with his family
during this time and surprises everyone as he petitions his family for custody
of Juliet realizing he needs her as much as she needs him. With family and friends around her, Rabbit
comes to terms with her death---and her life---as does her family as they
remember that without love there is nothing and even in her last breathing
hours, Rabbit recalls the love of the only man for her who she is sure is
patiently waiting for her wherever he is.
An achingly, beautiful, gut-wrenching, life affirming,
generous story of a woman with just a little more fight left.
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