Digging In by Loretta Nyhan is a story of the unexpected chances to start over after a devastating loss. Paige Moresco had the perfect life with her husband, Jesse, and their teenage loss, Trey. It all came tumbling down two years ago when Jesse died in a tragic car accident. Since then, she has been sleepwalking through life, only holding it together for the sake of her son. At least she thought she was holding it together. Her house is a disaster, the yard is overgrown and she soon learns she is in risk of losing her job. As she stares at her neglected lawn, she realizes that she has hit rock bottom. Suddenly, she finds herself digging. As the hole gets bigger, Paige decides to turn her yard into a vegetable and herb garden. She knows nothing about gardening, it is only with the help of her new friends, a charming local cop and the healing power of the soil, Paige begins to see the potential in the chaos, a new life growing from the upturned soil of her former life.
Digging In takes a realistic yet warm and witty look at death and grief. “When death is sudden, the parting is actually a ragged tear, not a clean separation. It leaves all the ends unfinished, and they just unravel and unravel and . . .” describes Paige’s life as she deals with the loss of her husband. Jesse and Paige had been best friends since the eighth grade that bloomed into love and a happy marriage that his loss was more than just her husband. He was her rock, her stability. I enjoyed Paige as she still struggles with her husband’s loss, especially when many people think she should have “moved on” by now. At one point, Paige says, “Death was final, but grief wasn’t; it was a dirty street fighter who rose again and again even when I thought I had successfully knocked it to the ground. King of the sucker punches.” With a cast of colorful and interesting characters, Paige learns that moving on doesn’t mean that her life with her husband had no meaning or didn’t exist. It means that she needs to find herself without him, something she has never had to do before. I highly recommend Digging In.
Digging In is available in hardcover, paperback, eBook, and audiobook.
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