Illness tests family in ‘A Slender Thread’

The relationship between sisters is a special bond, and no bond is tighter than that of Margot Winkler and her big sister Lacey.

That bond will be tested when Lacey is diagnosed with an incurable disease that will eventually steal her ability to speak. The sisters must prepare their families for that eventuality and draw from strengths they don’t know they have in order to face the future together.

“A Slender Thread” by Katharine Davis is a captivating novel that takes a look at family dynamics when tough times come to call. After Lacey reveals her secret to Margot, Margot obsesses over how she can help her beloved sister and family adjust to this devastating blow. As a result she soon becomes a crutch for the family.

Lacey finds solace in her artistic weavings but begins to retreat within herself as her symptoms increasingly worsen. Lacey’s husband, Alex, who has known Lacey and Margot since their childhood days at the idyllic Bow Lake, is overwhelmed by his wife’s diagnosis. Lacey has always been his anchor, a rock for him and their twin daughters with her strength and love of life. He throws himself into his work and tries to seek refuge in his past, but he soon finds himself turning more and more to Margot for understanding, sympathy and companionship — to the alienation and chagrin of Lacey.

Meanwhile, Margot’s live-in boyfriend Oliver quickly becomes frustrated by Margot’s continual trips to help Lacey and full-blown resentment brews when Margot abandons him during a long-planned getaway to scurry back to New Hampshire and Lacey.

Davis captures every nuance of family relationships in “A Slender Thread.” From love, to frustration, to the border of hate, her characters’ emotions span the limits. But the lasting lesson I took away from this tale is that no matter how often it is challenged and tested, a firm family foundation can make the most strenuous challenges endurable.