Any Bitter Thing

Lizzy, the main character in Any Bitter Thing, by Monica Wood, has a lot to be bitter about. Her parents died in an airplane crash when she was 2; and her Uncle Mike who raised her was taken away for obscure reasons when she was 9, leaving her in the care of an aunt who quickly shipped her off to a Catholic boarding school. When we meet Lizzy at age 30, she’s been left on the side of the road after a near-fatal hit-and-run accident, which occurred after she bolted from her home before her husband could tell her he was leaving her for another woman.

But Lizzy isn’t bitter; she’s lonely. In the hospital after the accident, she has a vision of her beloved uncle, a Catholic priest who died shortly after he was taken away. In her quest to understand why Uncle Mike appeared to her, she drifts further away from her husband and best friend, finding solace instead with “the bad Samaritan,” a drunk who first found her in the middle of the road after she was hit but merely moved her to the side of the road before calling 911 and taking off. In telling him the story of her life, she uncovers the heartbreaking truth behind Uncle Mike’s disappearance from her life and eventually rediscovers the love of her husband.

Wood alternates telling the story through the eyes of Uncle Mike and Lizzy, a structure that I think works well, making the denouement both somewhat surprising and believable at the same time. Lizzy and Mike are strong, loving, spiritual characters with plenty of love to spread around, and it comes shining through in this wonderful book.