When the lights go out

When the Lights go out
by Mary Kubica

Jessie has been taking care of her ailing mother.  After her mother dies, she is trying to start a new life.  She applies to college, but then finds out that her social security number raises a red flag.  She is soon trying to discover her past that her mother did not tell her about as she tries to find out why there is something wrong with her social security number.

This novel rotates chapters between Jessie and her mother, Eden.  The chapters with Eden are from twenty years earlier.  

You learn about Eden's early marriage and her struggles to have a baby.  She wants a child more than anything, but her and her husband are having problems.  They go to see a doctor and soon she is taking shots, doing IVF, and whatever they can.  This is expensive and drains their bank accounts, puts them into debt and puts a strain on the marriage as her husband wants to move on and Eden is obsessed with having a child.  

Reading about her infertility struggles is heartbreaking.  She sees a friend, pregnant with her fourth child, ignore her children and go on about how she didn't want her three boys, she wanted a girl and never wanted to have a fourth child.  Each month is another disappointment as Eden gets her period.  She even has hope one month and then suffers a miscarriage.  

I found myself much more interested in Eden's story than Jessie's.  I ended up more skimming Jessie's chapters.  And then the ending.  I cried, as a different choice could have easily been made which would have impacted the lives of people in a better way.