At the end of The Adventurous Life of a Navy Wife, Jo Thompson reveals that her three daughters abandoned her after the death of her husband. Now, in the final book of her often-painful memoirs, she reveals why she was forced to bury her husband without her children's support.
And Now...the Rest of the Story details how Jo's relationship with her husband, Jake, struggled over the years. With stark honesty, she describes how he lacked motivation to work, forcing her to take responsibility for their income. She discusses the psychological manipulation he used to isolate her socially, tactics that left Jo friendless when she needed support the most.
When Jake develops cancer and dementia, Jo becomes both caregiver and money-maker despite her own ailing health. In the aftermath of his death, alone and destitute, Jo will sink to one of the lowest points in her life, with only her natural resiliency to rely on.
An often-somber depiction of betrayal and abandonment, Jo's story is also one of courage and willpower. She survived by refusing to surrender control of her life-a lesson she passes on to others in this, the final chapter in her memoirs.
About the Author: Jo Thompson was married for fifty-one years to Jake, a US Navy serviceman. She, her husband, and their children lived abroad in Europe and the Pacific for twenty years before finally settling in Florida.
Thompson's memoirs began as personal therapy to deal with the sadness and depression she experienced when her children abandoned her in the aftermath of her husband's death. And Now...the Rest of the Story ends the tale begun in Bought and Paid For and continued in The Adventurous Life of a Navy Wife.