Tethered: A Novel

Clara Marsh spends her days among the dead, preparing them for their final resting place on this earth. She finds solace in her loneliness, her garden, and the couple who own the funeral home where she works as a mortician who treat her as their own daughter. But when a young girl shows up at the funeral home, Clara's life begins to unravel. It is obvious the girl is neglected, but Clara really...more

Clara Marsh spends her days among the dead, preparing them for their final resting place on this earth. She finds solace in her loneliness, her garden, and the couple who own the funeral home where she works as a mortician who treat her as their own daughter. But when a young girl shows up at the funeral home, Clara's life begins to unravel. It is obvious the girl is neglected, but Clara really doesn't want to get involved; it reminds her of her own childhood. However when clues arrive that this little girl has a connection to a murdered child Clara prepared 4 years ago, her carefully constructed walls start to fall down as people around her are revealed to be who they truly are and she herself has to decide between continued isolation, or to help a child who's own past, like Clara's is steeped in mystery. I picked this up on a whim at Target the other day and read it in one day. Completely blown away. There wasn't really a great mystery for me, I kind of figured out who the killer was, but the story of Clara. Her voice throughout this whole book really got to me. She reminded me of myself in many many ways, to the point that I thought I was going to have to stop reading the book for awhile. This is the first time I have ever so identified with a character. Wonderful way to start the new year.   hide

Debut novel and one of the best books I have read in a long time. It is definitely dark -- I only read murder and mayhem -- but there is this wonderful journey running through it about trying to live invisibly to avoid expected pain and abuse, forgiveness, faith and survival. With the thousands of books I've read, this is the only one where I've written the author.

An offbeat and hauntingly poetic story about an undertaker, her work, and the hard-won shell she uses to keep herself distant from everyone around her, even those who have tried to care for her. A little mystery, a thoughtful and intricate story, characters with depth, and heartbreakingly beautiful writing make this one well worth reading.

Excellent story with a fragile, damaged main character named Clara that works as an undertaker and keeps very much to herself. She fights a growing physical attraction to police detective Mike Sullivan as they investigate a cold case of a murdered girl who may be linked with a little girl Clara encounters playing in the funeral home. Along the way the reader is offered glimpses of Clara's...more

Excellent story with a fragile, damaged main character named Clara that works as an undertaker and keeps very much to herself. She fights a growing physical attraction to police detective Mike Sullivan as they investigate a cold case of a murdered girl who may be linked with a little girl Clara encounters playing in the funeral home. Along the way the reader is offered glimpses of Clara's past that shaped her into the closed-off woman she has become. I really enjoyed this story and felt moved by Clara's pain and sense of isolation.   hide