The Breakdown Lane — Jacquelyn Mitchard

Where can a woman turn when her own life threatens to overwhelm her ability to keep her children safe? A heartbreaking journey of loss and healing from the bestselling author of The Deep End Of The Ocean.

Julieane Gillis is pretty good at the business of living -- and so good that she makes a living advising the clueless and the lovelorn through her newspaper column. But when it comes to her personal life, Julie seems to have no insight, and when her husband of twenty years, Leo, deserts her, she is mystified.

Suddenly, Julie is alone, raising three children and experiencing alarming physical symptons that could be the precursor of a serious, chronic illness. Her best friend, her gifted but offbeat son, Gabe, and her lovely but self-centered daughter, Caroline, become Julie's caretakers -- a situation that wounds her pride and increases her distress.

Gabe and Caro take it upon themselves to search for their absent father before it is too late. But could what they discover about Leo be more devastating than their mother's deteriorating health?