Healing the Widower's Heart (Susan Anne Mason).

«Healing the Widower’s Heart», a novel by Susan Anne Mason, focuses on the struggles of Nathan Porter, a widowed father, who attempts to heal the emotional wounds his son Zach has suffered after his wife’s suicide.

Nathan brings his son to Wyndemere House, a wildlife camp in the woods of the Adirondacks, hoping to provide Zach with a fresh start—something that will facilitate his healing process. However, this development is met with puzzlement by Jake (the son counselor) who’s uncertain why he has been left behind when Nathan visits for the first time since the event, with his family. Jake, however, tries his best to aid Nathan’s troubled family even if that means stepping outside his prescriptive boundaries of maturity and authority. He, together with Wanda, the daughter counselor, attempt to teach Zach how to throw the football and catch it the same time without falling apart. Additionally, Jake assists Paige (his “parole officer”) in her strained relationship with Nathan.

Paige, formerly a parole officer in San Francisco, finds herself paired with Jake at Wyndemere due to unforeseen circumstances and hopes to bring Zach back to reality. At first, she finds the camp wanting, but soon accepts its beauty and learns to embrace it, just like Nathan andZach. As such, Paige works diligently to assist all of the children in her charge as well as to bridge the chasm between Nathan and Zach. When Zach starts acting erratically, Paige realizes there’s much more going on, that perhaps she isn’t accounting for every detail of Nathan and Zach’s story. Despite Nathan’s reputation for being largely absent from Zach’s life, it becomes apparent that Nathan cares deeply about his son and wants better for him (unlike his previous attempts). The one remaining obstacle to their reunification is a thick miasma of sorrow and confusion surrounding Zach’s mother's passing. By bringing the two characters together – to learn a bit about each other – Paige reveals an underlying lesson that all three adults wish to find common ground.