Published August 1, 2026 by Lake Union Publishing
Thea Erickson, a renowned surgeon, is filled with both joy and grief as her family gathers at their home on a summer night in 1995. Her elder daughter Phoebe is getting married, but even the happiness of the day feels bittersweet, as Thea grapples with a terminal cancer diagnosis. She worries she won’t be around to support her younger daughter Astra, who’s still in college, but even Thea cannot foresee what is to come—a terrible accident the night of the wedding that changes Astra’s life forever.
In a last-ditch effort to protect her family, Thea arranges a secret meeting with an old family friend and extracts a promise that will reverberate long after she’s gone.
Years after her mother’s death, Astra has moved forward with a career and relationship, but she still struggles with her grief. When a man reaches out to her and Phoebe, offering a window into their mother’s past, Astra must make a choice, and her decision forces her to face what it means to love someone after they’re gone, who we decide to forgive, and how families reckon with the past.
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This year, I have been reading a lot of stories about family and that was the main reason why I chose this book. When She Was Ours is Anna Nordberg’s debut novel, and I was intrigued with why she chose to write this story. Nordberg has stated that the inspiration for the novel was her own experience with how loss unfolds in a life, and the way it rearranges the atoms of a family. I believe she portrayed that rather well in this story. The reader experiences how the dynamic of the relationship of Astra, Phoebe and their father changed, and how each day they were grappling -if you will- with the different emotions of grief, and how it affected their everyday life. They made quite an impression on me, and I found myself connecting to each of them in many aspects.
Overall, despite a few things that needed to be fleshed out or a bit stronger, I enjoyed reading this story and I learned a few things about people’s grieving processes. I was also invested in the character’s daily lives and how they would continue without Thea. She was really the center of their world and was such a strong support to them all. If you like reading stories about family, this one may be for you.
Stephanie
I’ve rated this book three stars.
I obtained a physical copy of this book through the publishers for an honest review.
Check out my guest post with the author HERE.
Layered Pages 