Five Days Left

July 28, 2014
This starkly intimate epistolary novel that follows the diaries of two parents—one a dying mother, the other a foster dad—dissects the experiences of losing hope and finding strength. Mara, declining precipitously from Huntington’s disease, makes final preparations for adored adopted daughter Lakshmi, loving husband Tom, doting parents, and best friends Steph and Gina—all with the help of a lost-soul cabbie looking for redemption. Meanwhile, Scott has been an adoptive father for his inner-city foster son, Curtis, but Curtis’s biological mother will be released from prison in five days. Scott and his wife, Laurie, are preparing for the upcoming birth of a daughter but his life is thrown into chaos when a tragic turn of events forces him to choose between Curtis and the imagined peace of life without him. Timmell makes a powerful debut with these tautly drawn parallel dramas: Mara decides to cut short a decline she believes will destroy her family, and Scott risks his marriage to give Curtis a future.

Starred review from July 15, 2014
Timmer's emotional debut aboutsaying goodbye should come with a box of tissues.Scott Coffman has five days untilthe little boy he's been caring for returns to his birth mother; Mara Nicholsis five days away from killing herself before Huntington's disease can stealher independence. The two meet anonymously in an online therapy forum, andalthough their paths never cross in real life, Timmer deftly compares theirshared dilemmas of when and how to let go. Mara's husband dotes on her, whileher parents, colleagues and the friends her daughter adorably calls "thoseladies" are unwavering in their support. It's only through the harsher lens ofthe outside world that we see the devastating effects of Mara's disease, fromthe awkward gait that makes her look drunk to the kids at her daughter's schoolto the woman who tries too hard to help after seeing Mara soil herself in thegrocery aisle. As the countdown continues, seemingly normal moments carry more weightthan Mara can bear; at one point, she compares the sound of a dial tone to the"one-note dirge" of a flat-lining EKG machine. Scott can relate. He's trying tocram in as many bedtime stories and home-cooked meals as he can before sendingCurtis back to his junkie mother, who often let the boy go hungry. But Scott'spregnant wife, Laurie, fears Curtis' behavioral problems might be more thantheir family can handle long-term. Scott's dread at sending Curtis home isalmost as hard to digest as the uncomfortable truth that Laurie may have apoint. Is it selfish for Scott to put the boy's needs before his wife's? Is itmore selfish for Mara to abandon her family now than to ask them to care forher in the final stages of her disease? As Scott and Mara wrestle with ethicalquestions, the answers they find are both relatable and debatable.The characters are so affecting it'stough to make it to Day 5. An authentic and powerful story.

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August 1, 2014
Like Joshilyn Jackson, Timmer, in her impressive debut novel, shows a facility for creating authentic characters dealing with heart-wrenching dilemmas. Her story follows two people who have met anonymously in an Internet support group: Mara, a hard-charging Texas lawyer with a loving husband and daughter who is suffering the ill effects of Huntington's disease, and Scott, a middle-school teacher in inner-city Detroit who has been caring for an eight-year-old boy whose mother is in jail. Mara, once so fiercely independent, has had to resign from her law practice and give up driving and now must decide whether she will go through with her intention to commit suicide rather than face losing complete control of her faculties. Scott must return his foster child to his mother, who will soon be released from jail, a parting that will devastate him as he now regards Little Man as his own son. Timmer's unflinching depiction of Mara's deteriorating condition and Scott and his wife's difficulties in parenting an emotionally troubled older child make her novel a compelling read and a good choice for book clubs.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

Starred review from September 1, 2014

A successful attorney, happily married wife, and mother to a beautiful adopted five-year-old daughter, Mara Nichols has led a charmed life. Then she is diagnosed with debilitating, degenerative, and deadly Huntington's disease. Her case progresses so rapidly that she's soon suffering from memory loss, physical tics, and incontinence. She ultimately sets a date to end her life and now has five days left in which to prepare herself, tidy her affairs, and say goodbye to her loved ones, including her friend Scott Coffman, a schoolteacher Mara met on an online forum for adoptive parents. Scott is facing a goodbye of his own, to the eight-year-old boy he's fostered and fallen in love with and who is due to return to his biological mother--in five days. VERDICT Told in the alternating voices of Mara and Scott, Timmer's debut novel packs a powerful punch. Absorbing, deeply affecting, and ultimately uplifting, it heralds the arrival of an author to watch. Perfect for fans of thoughtful, controversial fiction such as Lisa Genova's Still Alice, Elizabeth Berg's Never Change, and Kristin Hannah's Night Road. [See Prepub Alert, 3/17/14.]--Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Lib., NY

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2014

A successful attorney, happily married wife, and mother to a beautiful adopted five-year-old daughter, Mara Nichols has led a charmed life. Then she is diagnosed with debilitating, degenerative, and deadly Huntington's disease. Her case progresses so rapidly that she's soon suffering from memory loss, physical tics, and incontinence. She ultimately sets a date to end her life and now has five days left in which to prepare herself, tidy her affairs, and say goodbye to her loved ones, including her friend Scott Coffman, a schoolteacher Mara met on an online forum for adoptive parents. Scott is facing a goodbye of his own, to the eight-year-old boy he's fostered and fallen in love with and who is due to return to his biological mother--in five days. VERDICT Told in the alternating voices of Mara and Scott, Timmer's debut novel packs a powerful punch. Absorbing, deeply affecting, and ultimately uplifting, it heralds the arrival of an author to watch. Perfect for fans of thoughtful, controversial fiction such as Lisa Genova's Still Alice, Elizabeth Berg's Never Change, and Kristin Hannah's Night Road. [See Prepub Alert, 3/17/14.]--Jeanne Bogino, New Lebanon Lib., NY

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.