A House With Holes: One Marriage Journey in a Charleston Renovation
About The Book
Seasoned renovators Greg and Denise Broadwater dream of owning and restoring a historic home in downtown Charleston, South Carolina. What follows are six years of unimaginable challenges and successes concerning the renovation of their condemned 1920s Charleston Cottage, their place in a transitional neighborhood on Congress Street, and their thirty-year marriage.
In a community that struggles to feel like home, alongside normal stressors of full-time work and family weddings, the heightened tension taxes the Broadwaters to the brink. Nothing is left untouched in their hundred-year-old cottage full of architectural and historical details, from the rotted floorboards to the hole in the roof and the knob-and-tube wiring that causes a fire. But through Denise’s fascinating memoir, A House With Holes, the Christian author and therapist shares how she and her craftsman-architect husband strengthened the holes in both their home and their relationship during this wearying time in order to survive and thrive.
Using Denise’s counseling experience, marriage principles have been woven seamlessly into the text, demonstrating ways to maintain relationships in the midst of struggles. Reflective questions close each chapter so that readers may ponder their own relationships with growth and understanding.
About The Author
Denise Mast Broadwater
My name is Denise.
What I have come to know through all of my living is I need more time and space in my life, to stop and just breathe, to feel I am not alone. And God continues to have a purpose for me. As a daughter, my goals involved my friends, my parents and siblings, and finding love. Fortunately, I found a good man who strives to overlook my weirdness and love me well. Marriage is HARD, but worth it. As a mother, my focus was nurturing my children and they became my life. And then they flew the nest, and I had to let them go. It’s in this season I learned to write my story.
For me, life easily slips into rote. I am about the immediate tasks at hand. Rushing. Busy. For one who fills a 24-hour day with way more activity than any sane person would consider, God takes me from helping and listening a myriad of people, to solitary introspection. As a keeper of stories for the past ten years, my life paradigm will be evident, but make no mistake we are deeper and more mysterious than any psychologist can figure out. My hope is for us to learn together. So, I write about my life not to promote me, but to touch your heart in ways you can relate for small adjustments that make for large growth.
Rave Reviews for... A House With Holes: One Marriage Journey in a Charleston Renovation
“Reading this book feels like binging on a Netflix series because you have to see what happens next. You are invited to have a front-row seat to view what it took to create an amazing marriage while undertaking an almost impossible renovation.”
— Dr. Larry Wagner, PhD, Professor of Counseling, Columbia International University, Columbia, South Carolina
“Viewing Denise through her book has deepened my respect for her. Being her co-grandmother has afforded me glimpses into her life and A House With Holes has further acquainted me with her life. Loved hearing about the adventures and was pleasantly surprised by the marital advice posted throughout the book.”
— Amazon 5-Star Review