Twenty

By: Debra Landwehr Engle

Narrated by: Kate Forbes

"Along with naming me Marguerite after her favorite daisy, Mama gave me three things: Red hair that hasn't faded. A love of nature. And a belief that somewhere between heaven and earth there is magic."

At age 55, Meg's life is too filled with loss for her to remember what magic feels like. All she has left is a yard brimming with plants that are wilting in the scorching Iowa summer - and a bone-deep feeling that she's through with living.

Meg has something else too: a bottle of mysterious pills, given to her years ago by an empathetic doctor. He promised that they would offer her dying mother a quick, painless end in exactly 20 days. Though her mother never needed them, Meg does. But a strange thing happens after Meg swallows the little green pearls....

Now that she's decided to leave this world, Meg is rediscovering the joy in it. She sheds everything she no longer needs - possessions, regrets, guilt - and reconnects with those she cares for. Finally confronting the depth of her grief, she's learning that love runs deeper still. But is it too late to choose to stay?

©2020 Debra Landwehr Engle (P)2020 Recorded Books

Ending was a letdown

After all the lessons she learned and not know the true ending was a disappointment. Also the choice of the reader whether she was much older than the stated age of the character or just sounded that way changed the feel of the story. She sounded to be in her late 70’s or older so I had to keep reminding myself the character was only 55 and had much more life ahead

Great read!

The subject matter hit close to home for me with a rather recent diagnosis of ALS. I have to say how poignant it was for me and how grateful I was to follow Meg's thoughts and questions from being done to realizing other people's judgments about her own decisions to self discovery. I thoroughly enjoyed her process and found her humanness refreshing and relatable. And the ending...genius !

thought provoking

I loved this book. Some people did not like the ending and I believe that is because they missed the actual message of the book. It’s not a love story nor is a book about grief. It is real and makes you think about how you want to live your life and show up. So much to think about. I absolutely loved it. I have read all of her books.