The One Good Thing by Kevin Alan Milne ~ Book Review

When Nathan Steen passes away in a freak accident while helping a stranded motorist, his wife and children are devastated.  A small semblance of comfort comes from the fact that Nathan lost his life helping somebody else which is what Nathan lived his life for.  As long as Halley had known him, Nathan had carried a handful of stones in his pocket to help him to remember to do small acts of kindness each and everyday, moving a stone to the other pocket with every act of kindness in the day until all the stones had changed pockets.   The day wasn't complete until all the stones had moved, whether it was a small kindness or a large one.  It doesn't take long for someone to start a facebook page with people leaving comments of how Nathan touched their lives.  Nathan's legacy were very big shoes to step into and his family is very aware of that.  But as they deal with their grief, Halley finds she is angry at the motorist who needed help and at Nathan for helping him.  Then one comment on the facebook page by a stranger that states that Nathan saved her life has Halley questioning who this Madeline Zuckerman is and why Nathan had never mentioned her or saving her life.  When Halley is given Nathan's computer from work to sort through his personal stuff, Halley discovers years worth of emails to this Madeline and references to their little girl.  Halley is devastated and now is not only fighting grief but anger and betrayal that her husband apparently was not who he said he was and had kept such a huge secret from her.  But thirteen year old Alice believes in the character of her father, what he stood for and what he tried to teach them and she embarks on a path to find out the truth.  But will her faith in her Dad be rewarded or will she find what she doesn't want to face?

I loved this story.  It was so multi-layered and real.  The characters and their emotions were so raw and relatable and the story so inspiring and yet heartbreaking at the same time.  It dealt with bullying, grief, abuse, lying...all very heavy topics but the story of love, faith, compassion, friendship, and truth that were the foundation made it thought provoking, convicting, challenging and inspiring.  It really brought to the forefront that we really only do see the "now" of a person's life and not what led them to where they are, whether they are people we think negatively of or whether we hold them in high esteem.   In my humble opinion, this is the kind of book that should be required reading in all schools, rather than some of the other stuff they made us read that had no impact whatsoever on our lives.  It would also be an awesome book for a book club as it deals with very real feelings related to all sorts of things people face and would make great discussion.  This is a story that should challenge and make great impact on a reader's life as it really looks at the humanness of us all and how we can all individually choose to make a difference for someone in our everyday lives.  I know it really challenged me and made me think for day's after I finished it.

I do feel to give warning to those it would trigger of an instance of sexual abuse though it lets you know what happened without the descriptive details.

Gave this an absolute 10/10 rating.