Genre:

Fiction


Pages:

420


Rating:

4 out of 5

A Nurse’s Obligation

A Town’s Demise

A Mother’s Regret

A Son’s Calling

A Daughter’s Mistake

A Time to Forgive

For every woman who thinks she left her past behind…Historic, environmental drama wrapped in a love story…

It’s 1948 in the steel town of Donora, Pennsylvania, site of the infamous “killing smog.” Public health nurse, Rose Pavlesic, has risen above her orphaned upbringing and created a life that reflects everything she missed as a child. She’s even managed to keep her painful secrets hidden from her doting husband, loving children, and large extended family.

When a stagnant weather pattern traps poisonous mill gasses in the valley, neighbors grow sicker and Rose’s nursing obligations thrust her into conflict she never could have fathomed. Consequences from her past collide with her present life, making her once clear decisions as gray as the suffocating smog. As pressure mounts, Rose finds she’s not the only one harboring lies. When the deadly fog finally clears, the loss of trust and faith leaves the Pavlesic family—and the whole town—splintered and shocked. With her new perspective, can Rose finally forgive herself and let her family’s healing begin?

***2013 Eric Hoffer Award Finalist***

***Independent Publisher Awards: 2012 Silver, Best Regional Fiction–Mid-Atlantic***

***National Indie Excellence Awards: 2012 WINNER– Literary Fiction***

I was warned from the get go that this was a ‘long winded’ read and it was. I was prepared for it. But regardless of it being long, I couldn’t help myself from turning the pages to see where it was going.

I really had no idea what to expect from the book, but what I found was real life.

I enjoyed walking in Rose’s shoes in her every day life. It was real life. Her real life (although this is fiction, it very much was written in such a way that you feel like you are walking side by side with Rose experiencing her daily life.)

I kept finding myself thinking of the time being much prior to the actual 1948 setting that the book was in, but then something would strike me as odd for the time frame and remind me that this really was 1948.

You experience Rose as nurse, mother, wife, and sister in law. You feel her emotions – the losses, the tension, the stress, the frustration, the love.

I enjoyed this read and would recommend to someone who enjoys literary fiction that borders on real life and doesn’t mind a longer, detailed story.

Follow the Author

“Shoop masterfully details familial struggles, secrets, and consequences that keep the reader riveted til the end.”


– Melissa Foster

“A great and satisfying read. Rose’s triumph over adversity touched me deeply. Ms. Shoop truly knows how to tug the heartstrings. S. K. McClafferty, author of The Ghost and Devlin Muir.”


– S. K. McClafferty, author of The Ghost and Devlin Muir

“This is a well-written story set authentically in a historic place and time, around an intricate plot which includes most of the elements that provide for a good “soap opera,” or a book that would be accepted by Oprah Winfrey.”


-Historical Novel Society

About the Author

After the Fog is the second novel by bestselling Kindle author Kathleen Shoop.  Her debut novel, The Last Letter, garnered multiple awards in 2011.  A Language Arts Coach with a Ph.D. in Reading Education, Kathleen lives in Oakmont, Pennsylvania with her husband and two children.

Kathleen has also written award winning Love and Other Subjects and her stories have also appeared in several of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

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