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Nicole Eva Fraser received her MFA in creative writing from the NEOMFA consortium in northeast Ohio, and graduated summa cum laude from Baldwin-Wallace College with a double major in English and communications. She is an adult-literacy activist in Cleveland, Tanzania, and Malawi. She runs 10Ks (slowly), used to speak French, and often can be found putting her foot in her mouth.
Reviewed by Natasha Jackson for Readers' Favorite
When a story begins with the main character eating the ashes of her recently deceased daughter, you know you’re in for a wild ride. When Melody Sawyer’s recently deceased daughter shows up as a ghost on the day of her funeral to make sure her mother doesn’t forget her, I knew Nicole Fraser’s story would be more than a few quirky characters in pat situations. With just one remaining daughter about whom she knows little, The Hardest Thing In This World takes us on a journey with Melody and her family as they tackle some pretty heavy issues including adultery, substance abuse, and mental illness. The family dynamics are what really turn this story into something special, because Fraser delves deep into the fabric of this fragile family and lets us come along as it slowly begins to unravel.
The Hardest Thing In This World is written in a disjointed format, but that made Nicole Fraser’s read even more enjoyable because you aren’t given everything in a linear time frame and the only way to grasp it all is to immerse yourself in Melody’s life and her family. This is a beautiful story that is filled with more sorrow than joy but it isn’t a sad story; it just has sad elements. The supernatural elements of this story simply add to it, giving us a chance to see what’s happening behind our backs while we’re dealing with other characters. My only wish for the Sawyer women is that they could have talked more when they were all together instead of waiting until it was too late, which I suppose is a lesson for us all.
