The Other Side of Air

by: Jeanne Braselton

Published by: Ballantine Books

Reviewed by Andrea Sisco

Author Jeanne Braselton hadn't finished her second novel, The Other Side of Air, before her death in 2003. Kaye Gibbons, a close friend, agreed to complete it for her.

Katy Doyal met her husband, Ephraim, soon after she had moved from Athens, Georgia to Rome, Georgia. She was eight years old and even then she knew she loved him. Their love was special and only for the two of them. It even excluded their son, Wyatt and has hampered his own marriage.

Katy learns she is going to die and worries that Ephraim will die of loneliness after she's gone. But Katy has a plan. She enlists the aid of Rose Callahan, a middle-aged, loud woman, to become a companion to Ephraim. From her grave, Katy talks to her husband and son and wishes for a reconciliation between the two of them.

I love Southern novels. They always seem to invite you in and ask you to stay a spell. And when it's time to go, you don't want to. The Other Side of Air was such a nice visit that I wanted to stay a lot longer. I wanted so much more of the characters lives. And Katy, well even in death, is a force.

Armchair Interviews says: True love, reconciliation, getting old and dying; it's all here and it will make you think about your own life.