Thea Goodman-The Sunshine When She's Gone

This was an advance Reader's Edition from Librarything.com.  The concept of this book is interesting.  It's about a couple, John and Veronica, who have a six month old girl, Clara.  They were a happy couple before Clara was born and, to unknowing eyes, are a happy couple now.  But beyond the happiness is the reality that comes with having a child.

Veronica is struggling with postpartum depression and overall the lack of sleep that comes with having a baby and working a full-time job.  John is trying to understand but struggling to do so.  He also has an overwhelming urge to care for Clara but isn't sure exactly how.

One Friday morning he decides to check on Clara and, seeing that Veronica is finally deeply sleeping, takes Clara out for breakfast.  Unsure of where to go for breakfast, John opens pieces of mail that he grabbed.  Sitting in the pile was their new passports.  For some unexplainable reason, John decides to go to the airport and catches a flight to the Caribbean.  Veronica wakes up hours after she normally does and is mildly frustrated that she doesn't know where John is but ultimately isn't that concerned.  She is surprised to hear that John cancelled the nanny for the day.  Veronica gets on with her morning and goes to work, thrilled that she had a full night of sleep.

At some point after John arrives in the Caribbean, he leaves a message for Veronica that he'd gone upstate to his mother's and that they would be sleeping there that night.  Even though Veronica is annoyed that he's disappeared to his mother's she isn't as upset as she feels she must be.

At the same time, we learn about Veronica's best friend, Ingrid and her husband Art, and their struggle with infertility.  Art and Ingrid actually introduced John and Veronica and while in the Caribbean, John runs into a friend of Art's and emails Art what's going on.  Interestingly, Art doesn't seem to share this information with Veronica, though they spend most of Saturday together.

The novel explores two very different points of views-John's as he spends more time alone with Clara than he'd ever spent, and Veronica, who is having more time to herself than she'd had in six months.  Each of them have vastly different thoughts running through their heads-John thinking at first that this really isn't as hard as Veronica keeps making it out to be and Veronica that she should feel guilty about the time she's spending away from her daughter but in reality is really loving it.

The novel was a good and enjoyable read.  This is Goodman's first novel and it was fun to read about all the different sites in New York as well as all the sites in the Caribbean that John visited.  The resolution of the novel is interesting and one I'm sure that married couples that are new parents will understand.