Piper Mills has just lost her grandfather when the family lawyer passes on a small gift from her grandmother. The gift is nothing more than a small charm and Piper is puzzled about why it’s important. Unfortunately, she can’t ask her grandmother who is suffering from Alzheimer’s. However, when Piper’s grandmother dies, she attempts to find some information about her grandmother’s mysterious past. When an old friend of her grandmother refuses to speak with her, Piper goes undercover as a renter on her property to pursue the truth.

I really enjoyed this story by Karen White as it embodied many of the things I’ve come to expect from White’s books. Interesting characters who are deeply hurt and looking for peace and redemption, a slow but satisfying pace, and a rich setting. Karen White also seems to write about mysterious family history well.

I enjoyed the way the story was told and the characters though a few pieces of the premise stretched believability a little bit for me. I have a hard time thinking of girls sharing a scrapbook based on when they get to wear a charm. Even so, I just threw my disbelief to the wind and savored the story.

I also love love love White’s prose, for example, how beautiful is this?
“But guilt, she’s also learned, was a lot like tree sap: it stuck to everything and after a long time it hardened to stone, trapping unsuspecting creatures inside of it.”

Little nuggets of wisdom like that are throughout the book! I’ve also noticed that White does not follow conventional point of view in her book…this book is told through Piper’s first point of view and Lillian and Helen’s third person point of view.

Ultimately, this is a satisfying character piece with an interesting mystery to keep you engaged to the end.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 at 12:21 am

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