Court of the Myrtles

Love, hope, heaven… We will meet again

Some lessons we learn at school; some we learn from experience. But there are some life lessons that only others can teach us.

Two women meet every Friday morning at eleven o’clock at a cemetery. One is grieving over the tragic and early death of her mother. The other, mourning the loss of her daughter, shepherds the younger woman through the stages of grief. Together they come to understand what it means to live in a world full of joy and sadness, how death is an intrinsic part of life and how love stays with us forever.

Court of the Myrtles is a tender and wise, funny and sad story about grief, loss and acceptance, and about the people we might meet on the other side.

Reviews

“This book is Tuesdays With Morrie—on estrogen, with a touch of romance. Sometimes you do get a second chance. A heartwarming and inspiring tale, it’ll make you want to hug your mother. Or your daughter. Or both.”
– Louise Sloan, Ladies Home Journal

“We have the capacity to be ‘Touched by Angels’ with modern miracles of hope all around. Cahall’s words lay out like a quilt being sewn together from precious memories. Court of the Myrtles is a story you’ll want to wrap yourself up in.”
– Lee Alexander, Producer ABC News

“Death is difficult, no matter one’s age. Whether you’re a twentysomething woman grieving the unexpected loss of your mother, or a mother grieving the heartbreaking loss of your daughter to a savage illness, your heart hurts and you’re at a loss as to how you’ll continue on.

Such grief is at the heart of Lois Cahall’s marvelous new novel Court of the Myrtles, but although this is a book with somber undertones, it proves ultimately uplifting in a most wonderful and surprising manner.

Marla is the aforementioned twentysomething, 28 to be exact, who finds herself suddenly struggling to accept the untimely loss of her mother, who was also her best friend. Each Friday Marla visits her mother’s grave, where she converses with her, cries and struggles to adjust.

During one Friday visit she is interrupted in her grieving by an older woman named Alice who is also grieving, in Alice’s case the loss of her daughter Joy, ironically the same age as Marla.

At first Marla is wary of Alice’s unwelcome intrusion into her private hell of tears and numbness, but soon the women form a bond only known to those who have endured loss. As the awkwardness gives way to familiarity, a unique and powerful friendship is born, one that gives hope to both women, but especially Marla, as she comes to realize that the best tribute to her deceased mother is to live fully and determinedly.

The journey between Marla and Alice seems predictable enough, culminating in a special outing for the two, but Cahall infuses her book with a stunning twist near its end that few will see coming.

As Cahall says in her Author’s Note at the book’s beginning, “You’ll find shelves of advice on how to cope with bereavement…but what of a book that gives us hope?”

This is that book.

Cahall’s writing style isn’t lofty or pretentious, which is wonderful because it allows the reader to fully identify with the two women and their complexity of emotions. The result is a work you’ll want to keep close, ready to read again and again as the need arises.

Women will be particularly empowered and inspired by this book, which delves adeptly into the varied intimacies inherent in the friendships of women. The sorrow and pain of loss is in Cahall’s pages, but so, too, is an incredible sense of hope as the central characters strive to remind one another, and us, that life not only does go on, but should.”
– Kathleen Szmit, Barnstable Patriot