I took the Shawn Nocher’s THE PRECIOUS JULES with me on vacation, and I’m so glad I did. This wasn’t an easy read, per se, but it was the perfect book to sit and read while time wasn’t an issue. Stone and Hillary Jules are parents to six children, and the book begins in the past, where the reader learns about Hillary’s role in the family: produce the children, mother the children, be available at all times. Stone also has a role; he provides for the family financially (and then some, really, as the family wants for nothing). We also learn quite quickly who each child is, what their roles are, and the issue at hand, which, in the present ,is the decision to bring Ella Jules back to the family home. When she was eight years old, she’d been sent to Beechwood Institute, a home for people with mental disabilities) to live. But after 30 years, the home is set to close.
I’m not the sort to give spoilers for a book, but this novel is filled with hard truths about so much. Alternating between past and present, we eventually learn why Ella was sent away and how that decision and what actually happened affected all people involved. We also learn why the other five Jules children do not want Ella to come back, each of whom has a different reason. The book takes on the themes of a mother’s guilt, secrecy, shame, family, and so much more, and it weaves the themes effortlessly. A heartbreaking but thoughtful narrative that you’re sure to enjoy.

This is a gripping tale of family and secrets. It's a deeply emotional read that is difficult to read at times, but well worth it. The writing is emotive, compelling, and heartfelt.

It is the story of Jules trying to get custody of their child, Ella who they institutionalized at 8, when the institution that has been her home for 32 years closes. Lynetta, who has taken care of Ella for years, also wants custody. As the decisions are made, the other five Jules children arrive at the home to try to convince their parents that bringing Ella home is a bad idea.

A story about parents put in a very difficult position, the siblings affected by the choice, and the child left behind. I appreciated the different points of view, which allowed the reader to understand the emotional trauma of institutionalizing Ella at the tender age of 8 and the decision's effects on each member of the Jules family. Additionally, the inclusion of Lynetta's point of view allows readers to understand Ella as someone who truly loves and cares for her. It is clear that there were miscommunications, misunderstandings, and overwhelming occurrences and feelings that contributed to the decision to send Ella away; secrets long buried begin to come out, and soon each Jules family member is claiming personal responsibility for the decision.

This was unlike anything I've read recently. I really enjoyed it. Thank you to Wunderkind PR for my hardcopy and to Netgalley and Blackstone publishing for my e-galley.

Family dramas seem to make excellent book club choices because usually there is always someone in the club who sees the situation differently from others. In this family drama, there are several viewpoints to look at and multiple ways this family can right a wrong from many years ago.

The Jules family is the perfect family…at least from the outside looking in. Hilary and Stone Jules have six children but have only raised five. After a devasting decision in 1977, to send Ella, the twin of Belle, to the Beechwood Institute, a home for retardants, the family dynamics are completely altered. Some feel it was a positive change and others feel the loss greatly.

Now, in 2009, the Beechwood Institute is closing and Hilary and Stone have arranged for a lawyer to fight for custody again of Ella after turning over guardianship to Loretta an employee at Beechwood. Loretta has come to think of Ella as her own and Ella hasn’t been home since 1977 even though her mom has continued to visit her every Thursday without question. Loretta can’t bear to imagine life without Ella in it but doesn’t have the means to fight them for custody in court. Plus, she has her own secrets to keep hidden.

"She knows something of secrets, about the way they snack at a person, eating away at the core of who a person imagines themselves to be until all that’s left is a person you don’t recognize anymore."

"The thing about secrets shared is that they are a bartering tool. They carry a price. The exchange of another secret of equal or greater value. When you hand one over, it is reasonable to expect one in return. A way to seal the deal, each person carrying a piece of the other and a way to ensure that the secret stays where it is newly planted."

The five siblings are returning home to question this decision and to try to understand why their aging parents would choose to bring Ella back home after everything that happened. Of course, when siblings return home, old disagreements and hurt feelings resurface and chaos is bound to happen. We know early on that a pivotal event occurred that pushed Stone and Hilary to send Ella to Beechwood, but it takes a good 3/4 of the novel to find out what the actual incident was and it was shocking.

"All of his faith in her shattering that fateful day. Like the windshield of their car when she and Stone slid off I-83, the windshield smacking a low-hanging branch and crackling into a web of fissures. Still there, still mounted in its framework, but useless, threatening to crumble at the slightest touch."

The siblings are at odds over Ella returning home. Most of them think it isn’t a great decision due to the level of care she needs, but a family dinner in the home is what Hilary is hoping will be the turning point for all of them to see it’s the right choice. Some of the siblings have visited Ella at Beechwood while others haven’t seen her since the day she left. How do you welcome a sibling home when you haven’t seen her since she was eight and she is now 39? Horrible memories of Ella’s tantrums or seizures have left them with no desire to see her again. But, if they only knew some of the things that were happening behind the doors of Beechwood, they might think a bit differently about Ella’s life away from home.

"…he has always felt like the puzzle piece that got lost under the sofa. No one noticing its absence until everything else has been snapped into place."

The book travels back and forth in time to the 1970s when Ella and her siblings are young children in the Jules household and then to April 2009, as everyone is gathering together for a family dinner. We see each of their perspectives of the fateful day in 1977 as well as their thoughts on Ella’s return. We also see Loretta’s life story as she starts working at Beechwood and what led to her being Ella’s sole caretaker and guardian. Even with the jumping around in the timeline, I still found the story easy to follow and compelling to want to know what happened next.

Because of the numerous opinions related to children with Down Syndrome (this term is not used in the story due to the time frame), group home or institutional living, mental health and depression, having multiple siblings, or a mother giving up her child, I truly think this would make for an excellent book club read. I couldn’t find any discussion questions but did see on the author’s website that she is available for book club discussions.

The Jules family is imprinted on my heart. I can’t speak for or against any of their opinions but the story did give me something to think about. If you love family dramas with hot-button issues, this would be an excellent choice to add to your reading list.

EXCERPT: Up until last Saturday when Tess made her first frantic call to all the siblings, the Jules children were blissfully unaware that the family fiat - to always do what is best for the family - was about to be violated.

Now the Jules family finds they are in a quandary. It turns out that the Beechwood Institute where Ella lived is closing. Stone and Hillary Jules have known this was on the horizon for two years but neglected to share this information with their children. Apparently, at least according to what Tess reports, their parents failed, over the course of the last year, to participate in formulating a plan for Ella's care. Instead, Ella's caretaker, a woman the family has spoken of (however rarely) as Ella's angel, has petitioned for and been granted guardianship by the state of Maryland. This, Belle now knows, had been the plan all along: Ella would live with Lynetta once Beechwood closed. But something had shifted recently and, for God-knows-what-reason, Hillary and Stone Jules have recently filed an appeal and are looking to bring the estranged Jules sibling home.

The five remaining Jules children - but especially Belle - having spent a lifetime adjusting to the strange jagged hole left by Ella's departure - believing themselves finally settled around the wound of it, now stand on the edge of a sinkhole. The idea of Ella coming back to the family home changes everything they once understood regarding her banishment to Beechwood.

ABOUT 'THE PRECIOUS JULES': After nearly two hundred years of housing retardants, as they were once known, the Beechwood Institute is closing the doors on its dark history, and the complicated task of reassigning residents has begun. Ella Jules, having arrived at Beechwood at the tender age of eight, must now rely on the state to decide her future. Ella’s aging parents have requested that she be returned to her childhood home, much to the distress of Ella’s siblings, but more so to Lynetta, her beloved caretaker who has been by her side for decades. The five adult Jules children, haunted by their early memories of their sister, and each dealing with the trauma of her banishment in their own flawed way, are converging on the family home, arriving from the far corners of the country—secrets in tow—to talk some sense into their aging parents and get to the root of this inexplicable change of heart.

MY THOUGHTS: A mother's love . . . A mother's guilt . . . a perceived betrayal, and an empty nest.

There are six Jules children: George who bears scars from Ella's violence, who is never over anything, who carries around each perceived slight ready to whip it out and recite it; Jax, a writer, laid-back and safely ensconced in California; Belle, Ella's twin, the 'lucky' one who escaped Ella's fate; Finney, who was only two when Ella was banished to Beechwood, his only memory of her being that she was "all gone."; and Tess, who never knew her sister, is childless, lives closest to her parents, and on whose shoulders the mantle of care of their parents falls.

They are an upper middle class family. Stone is a successful businessman with a genuine affability. Hillary is religious, gracious and kind. They have never pretended to have more than they had, and never flouted what they did have. Hillary's care of the disabled Ella while making sure that none of her other children missed out is admired. So what is it that causes the Jules to put Ella into residential care? And then thirty-two years later, when they are both in their sixties, to bring her home again?

The Precious Jules is an emotional read about family, love and doing the right thing for the greatest good.

The characters are fully rounded out, their strengths and weaknesses, their personalities clashing and complementing, their memories of Ella all vastly different, as are their perceptions of her.

There are secrets, some devastating, some held onto for all the wrong reasons, some weighing their bearers down.

Belle hasn't seen Ella since she was removed from the family home. There has been none of the synchronicity between them that most twins experience. The thought that there might be terrifies her. Hillary has visited her daughter every Thursday, but for all that, she doesn't know her daughter and has no real perception of what caring for Ella full time would entail. Nettie (Lynetta) realises that this family knows nothing about who Ella has become under her care. Nor do they realise how much of her life Nettie has invested in Ella, her precious jewel of nature, and what it will do to her if Ella is taken away.

This is a beautiful read, but not always an easy one. It tore at my heartstrings, I railed at the injustices, and my heart was heavy with the gravity of the decisions over Ella's future that were needing to be made. Some of the treatments in the early years of Ella's incarceration were barbaric, but they happened. That was the way of those times.

The Precious Jules is a family tragedy and a social commentary all rolled into one. It's about love and guilt, about acceptance and redemption and about there being a place for everyone. It's just a matter of finding it.

Life just unfolds, and it's how we iron out the creases that matters.

Different is just that. Different. That's all - no better, no worse.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.2

#ThePreciousJules #NetGalley

I: @shawnnocher @ blackstonepublishing

T: @shawn_nocher @BlackstonePub1

#contemporaryfiction #familydrama #historicalfiction #mystery #sliceoflife #mentalhealth

THE AUTHOR: Shawn Nochers compelling short stories have appeared in numerous literary magazines, including SmokeLong Quarterly, Pithead Chapel, Eunoia Review, and MoonPark Review, and she has been longlisted or won honorable mentions from both SmokeLong Quarterly and Glimmer Train.

She earned her master of arts in writing at Johns Hopkins University, has given wings to two children, and lives with her husband and an assortment of sassy rescue animals in Baltimore, Maryland, where she writes in a room of her own. This is her first novel. (Amazon)

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Blackstone Publishing via Netgalley for providing both a digital ARC of The Precious Jules by Shawn Nocher for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Just wow! This is the first book I’ve read by Shawn Nocher and I’m a fan now! How to unpack all of the secrets and emotions contained in this book. There is right and wrong and then there is the gray area that tempts us to make life easier for ourselves, but that always comes with painful consequences. Perfect family, perfect kids, but what happens if one of them is not…perfect.
I can definitely envision this book being made into a movie. All of the characters became so real to me. Absolutely wonderful writing!

Thanks @NetGalley and @BlackstonePublishing for an ARC. 
#NetGalley #ThePreciousJules #BlackstonePublishing

This book is a very character driven story that will tug at your heart strings. I felt for Ella as well as her siblings and Lynetta. I was able to look beyond Ella’s mental and physical disabilities and see her as a person who wanted to live her life the best way she could.

When it came to Ella's wellbeing, I was conflicted a little in who was the best fit for Ella with either Lynetta or her family. I felt that Lynetta knew Ella better and was suited to care for her the best but on the other hand, I understood where her mom was coming from. I did not blame Ella's siblings Jax, Belle, George, Finney, and Tess for their feelings as well.

After reading this book, I look forward to reading more books by author, Shawn Nocher.

4.5 Stars

This family drama kept my interest throughout because of it is so authentic.

Ella Jules has spent 32 years of her life, since the age of 8, in the Beechwood Institute whose clients are intellectually challenged. Lynetta, who has been her caregiver for all that time, has applied to be her guardian because the institute is closing. Then Ella’s parents, Hillary and Stone, file with the courts to have Ella live with them. On a weekend when Ella is to come for a visit and overnight stay, the five adult Jules children (Jax, Belle, George, Finney, and Tess) arrive at the family home to persuade the parents that having Ella live with them is not a good idea.

The Jules family seems perfect. They are all good looking: “All that blond hair and blue eyes, their collective athleticism . . . [Lynetta] couldn’t help but wonder if she had walked into a Ralph Lauren photoshoot.” The Jules are “a moneyed family” whose home is a large house in a wealthy Baltimore neighbourhood; as Belle drives to the house she thinks it feels “like coming home to a Norman Rockwell painting.” But Belle knows that the “picture of perfection” is deceiving: “what the world saw of the Jules family hid something deeper.” Each of the family members is flawed and has struggles and secrets.

Ella’s removal from the family has affected everyone. Guilt is a common emotion. For example, Belle, as Ella’s twin, has “the sense that she has escaped something by virtue of a tragically consequential coin toss.” Jax says that it’s his fault that Ella was sent away while George is certain “it was his own fault”. The trauma of Ella’s institutionalization affects the decisions and choices characters make. George’s wife has an eating disorder but he refuses to place her in an inpatient program, worried about how her absence would affect their daughters. Similarly, Belle hesitates to place one of her sons in a different school which will address his unique leaning needs because she doesn’t want to separate siblings. Gradually, as we learn the motivations of all the characters, we come to understand that “They all have scars from Ella, of one kind or another.”

The point of view is very effective in developing characters. The perspective of each family member is given, as is that of Lynetta. As a consequence, we understand everyone’s true feelings and motivations. And there is no difficulty differentiating among the siblings. For instance, it does not take long to understand that George is resentful and angry because of a childhood incident whereas Finney is more sympathetic because he himself feels “he didn’t fit into the world” just as Ella’s parents seem to want to wedge her “back into this family, shoved to fit in a space that no longer conforms to her.”

It is an outsider that best understands the family’s problem. Clarissa, a longtime family friend, sees that they each carry “the burden of useless guilts” and so much could be solved if they communicated: “The problem . . . was everything that had not been said, all the pain that had been privately hoarded by each one of them rather than weighed and divided equally. This family . . . carried seven times, eight times the pain that should have been allotted each one of them. They could . . . take all they know, all they carry, and unload it amongst one another, sort through it carefully, dispose of that which held no meaning or truth or consequence.”

I enjoy novels with dynamic characters, and there is an indication that the family learns that secrets can have detrimental effects and there is comfort in opening up and unburdening oneself of secrets. (I was reminded of the author’s debut novel, A Hand to Hold in Deep Water, which also examines the effects of secrets and how they lead to misunderstandings.) It is also heartwarming to see the Jules family stop seeing Ella as “disappointment and tragedy, heartache. They see imperfection, something lost.” They come to see her like Lynetta does: “a jewel of nature, a precious jewel.”

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is heartbreaking, heartwarming, and thought provoking.

This is quite a heartfelt book about the Jules Family, who is having to make a decision, along with the state, on where their adult daughter, Ella Jules, should live. She has been living at the Beechwood Estate, A home for the mentally handicapped, since the age 8. It's now closing it's doors and they need to find new homes for their residents. Ella's family wants her back home with them, but Lynetta, who's been Ella's caretaker since she arrived at Beechwood, doesnt think this is the best choice for her. Ella's five siblings, and her parents, are dealing with their own guilt and secrets from from the past.

This will pull at your heart strings as you read about the past and the way the mentally handicapped have been treated and dealt with. How families have felt the shame for having handicap children and would often try to hide that from others. Told through multiple POV, throughout Ella's life, this is a family story that I will not soon forget.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

I am so glad I got the opportunity to review The Precious Jules since I absolutely loved Shawn Nocher's first book, A Hand to Hold in Deep Water. And The Precious Jules didn't disappoint! It is a wonderfully crafted story about some very hard truths.

The Precious Jules is the story of the Jules family, headed by Stone and Hillary and their six children. While the story jumps between past and present, the current issue facing the Jules family is that the Beachwood Institute (a long standing home for people with mental disabilities) is closing and Ella Jules needs a new home. Even though it has been more than 30 years since she has lived with her family, her parents are requesting to bring her home. But her caregiver, Lynette, has been by Ella's side since she was 8 and has filed for guardianship. The other Jules children are not in favor of bringing Ella home, each having different reasons that unfold throughout the story.

What begins as a seemingly straightforward plot slowly unfurls to reveal how the decision to bring Ella home is less about Ella herself and more about each family member's struggle with guilt, secrecy, and misunderstanding. More and more layers are revealed which kept me reading to uncover the true story of the Jules family and how each of them remembers Ella differently. I loved the complexity surrounding this family as well as how a dark history of this country's treatment of mental disabilities contributed to a legacy of secrecy and shame. If you enjoy family narratives with different narrators taking turns telling the story, then The Precious Jules should be your next read. I know I will be thinking about this story long after having finished it. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC! I already can't wait for Nocher's next book!