Review: by Whitney Scott, Booklist

Beachglass, each piece uniquely shaped and polished by waves and sand, typically begins as ordinary bottle shards. Delia, an alcoholic 10 years sober, leaves her husband and two-year-old daughter to honor her decade-old promise to Timothy, a dear friend she made in AA, to help him through his last days of fever-spawned headaches and bone ache from pneumonia due to AIDS. Although her journey is only from Seattle to L.A., and husband Simon attempts to smooth her way by taking a sabbatical and relying on grandparents for backup child care, Delia is anguished by separation from her little girl, who speaks toddler-talk to her daily on the phone, as well as by fright when she learns that Timothy's T-cell count is only 50. She fears "silently slipping through a crack somewhere, never to be seen again." Her beloved friend's dying reflects parts of herself that she must give up to accept what he has left her: a few paintings, a wingback chair, his moccasins, and an unbreakable bond. A richly poignant first novel.
- Whitney Scott, BOOKLIST