This Too Shall Pass, by Milena Busquets

It's hard to dislike a book once you've met its author, assuming she or he was pleasant. This slim, powerful novella came from a slim, powerful native of Barcelona who was charming as heck and such fun to talk with, much like her main character, Blanca. Written after the death of Busquets' much beloved mother, This Too Shall Pass follows Blanca for a few days about a month after her own formidable mother's painful and drawn out passing. Forty-years-old with two sons by two fathers, Blanca acknowledges that she has much love in her life but is bereft at losing, as Busquets put it herself, the mother who was really the love of her life. Her friends, lovers, and children orbit the globe of her grief as she learns to let go of her mother's last painful months and grasp again the things in life that had given them both joy. The emotion is raw and the setting irresistibly Mediterranean, a heady combination successfully navigated by Busquets.