Broken for You, by Stephanie Kallos, takes place in Seattle, Washington. The book centers around two women, Margaret Hughes and Wanda Schultz. Margaret is in her early 70s and, but for her marriage that ended 40 years after the death of her young son, she has spent most of her life in self-inflicted seclusion. Margaret is extremely wealthy and lives in a mansion that is filled with priceless porcelain. After Margaret is diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, she decides to open up her life by taking in borders and in walks Wanda. Wanda came to Seattle in search of her ex-boyfriend who dumped her and moved away. She is convinced that he is in Seattle so she sells her belongings and moves.
As the story develops, it turns out that Margaret’s wealth was accumulated by her father who was a Nazi sympathizer who fenced the porcelian that the Nazis stole from Jews. Because of that, she feels that her life is cursed and that she is not entitled to any happiness. Wanda, whose parents abandoned her when she was young, has abandonment issues of her own, and like Margaret, has built her life behind a wall of seclusion.
As a friendship develops between the two women and other characters begin to enter and change the women’s lives, a parallel story develops between Wanda’s father, who abandoned her when she was 6, and a Holocust survivor, who has a missing piece of porcelian from Margaret’s collection.
While it may seem like too many things are going on at once, the author was able to tell the two stories without getting too mired in detail, and I did not get lost as a reader. I really enjoyed reading this book because it was about healing, letting go of the past, taking chances on getting out of one’s comfort zone, and tearing down walls of seclusion. What could have been a very depressing and sad story, actually became uplifting without being preachy or sappy. Overall, it was a great read.