When I chose this book, I admit I thought the soft colored cover and promises of 1930's Atlanta sounded too good to pass up. What I didn't expect was a story about a girl who loses her father and the full gamut of emotions she and her family go through to right their upside down world. Having lost my father not quite five years ago I spent most of this book crying. And I'm crying even remembering it as I type this which is why I put off writing this for so long. It was hard for me to read, yet I didn't want to stop reading. In fact I think there may have been a little divine intervention in my choosing of this book because now that I'm finished with it, I think I needed to read it.
Anne "Perri" Singleton, despite The Depression lives a good life, goes to an excellent girl's school and even had 1,000 "dates" in a single year (dates are not quite the same in this world as they are in ours). The day she meets Mary "Dobbs" Dillard she thinks they'll never be more than acquaintances. Dobbs is unfashionable, poor, and speaks about faith as if it was as natural as breathing. But when Perri's father suddenly dies and mysterious circumstances lead to more questions than answers, Perri and Dobbs form a deep bond.
While Perri's life is tipped end over teakettle, so is Dobbs' life completely different from what she knew and both girls fight very emotional struggles finding the balance between self and fitting in.
I loved that Perri was into photography - because so am I. She was also into sky watching for a bit, and so am I. I also really enjoyed the feel of the era and place, despite the dire circumstances. Some of Musser's descriptive areas reminded me a tad of Sarah Addison Allen which endeared this book to me as well.
Yes, there is plenty of heartache, but there is also romantic love, true, deep friendship, following your dreams and a grand scale mystery to boot.
Does it help all that talk about crying if I tell you it has a satisfying conclusion?
Bethany House provided this book for the purposes of review. The opinions are entirely mine.
3 comments:
That sounds like a good book to read. Thanks for sharing about it. :)
I'm sorry about your father, he must have been really special to you.
I picked up this book in Sam's the other day and came so close to buying it...the cover is gorgeous and the story sounds interesting!
~Kristin
I'm sorry to hear about your dad. I'm glad you found this book, it sounds really good. I'll look for it. Have a nice 4th of July. :)
Post a Comment