STORY SUMMARY
Present Day: Ruthie Washbourne, age 19, lives in the small village of West Hall, Vermont. She has a little sister who is 12 years younger named Fawn. Their mother, Alice, is a hippie type mom who believes in living off the land, not having internet, and is now a widow as Ruthie's dad died. Alice sells eggs and homemade goods at the local farmers market. Ruthie is dating a town boy named Buzz and her plan is to go to college next year and get out of West Hall. Ruthie wakes up one morning to discover that her mother has disappeared! There's no sign of her in the barn, the shed, the chicken coop, or anywhere in the farmhouse. She's not out in the woods or the fields. And then Ruthie finds a copy of Sara Harrison Shea's diary hidden beneath the floor of Alice's bedroom.......and everything changes.
The diary tells of a mother on the edge....a mother who is willing to do the unthinkable in order to hold her daughter, Gertie, one more time...no matter what the consequences are. As Ruthie gets sucked into the mystery surrounding Sara (who is a town legend) and her fate, she will discover that she's not the only one looking for someone who's lost. And Ruthie is not the only person desperate to unlock the secrets that are in the diary. She just might be the only person in town to stop history from repeating itself!
Meanwhile: In 1908, Sara Harrison Shea is found dead in the field behind her house....just a few months after her daughter Gertie, 7 years old, is found dead. Some of the townspeople say Sara's ghost still walks the streets after midnight. Some people will leave offerings on their porch to prevent her from coming inside their homes. Sara has kept a diary for years chronicling the things she learned about "sleepers" from her Auntie. Auntie is a type of holistic (for her time) woman...some people see her as witch....she has herbs for just about anything that ails you. Sara's niece Amelia took parts of the diary and turned it into a book that the locals have all read and that the local bookstore (in the present day) still sells. Supposedly, there are missing pages from the diary, that teach one how to wake up the dead for 7 days. Martin, Sara's husband, is concerned that Sara is losing her mind. She already lost their son Charles to death...and now Gertie. There are so many mysteries surrounding the fate of Martin, Sara, Auntie, and Gertie.
Just what did happen with Sara, Martin, Gertie, and Auntie?? And how does that affect Alice, Ruthie, Fawn today??
MY THOUGHTS
This is a kind of novel that I just couldn't put down. I even brought it to work to read on my lunch break. I literally read this in one week. It's so well written and suspenseful. I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish it last evening.
There's a bit of the "supernatural" about this story but it ties in so well with local folklore and with the setting. I love that it isn't too "out there"....it's rather believable if you remember it's fiction! I mean.....hm.....we do know we all have spirits (souls)......do they awaken after death?? You can make your own conclusions.
I did guess what was Ruthie's backstory pretty quickly in the novel. It was quite interesting to learn the actual facts though in the last couple of chapters and I loved how the author introduced the characters of Katharine and Candace. Very well done.
The character development is excellent and I enjoyed that she titled each chapter with the name of the character who was speaking in that chapter. The book goes between 1908 and the present but the author is good about labeling each section so you don't get confused. I also appreciate that there isn't a lot of swear words in this novel.
There are many themes in this book: love, the relationship between mother-child; betrayal/revenge, and Obsessions are rampant in this story! It's a "literary thriller".
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.
3 comments:
This author is one I haven't heard of before. Sounds like you were right into the story! Thanks for your review on it. I'll keep an eye out at the library.
And that was me that did the "unknown" comment. Forgot and clicked over from your fb post not even thinking that was the wrong google account that it would use.
This sounds pretty good. I was going to put it on hold at the library, but I have decided to stick with my "to read" shelf for a while. When I put books on hold at the library, they all seem to come available at the same time. I was told there is a way to stagger the availability dates, but I sure can't figure out what it is. Thanks for the review!
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