Call number
Collection
Publication
Book Club (2006)
Description
Plain and dutiful, Sophia Hess has lived most of her life without ever knowing genuine love. Her professor husband had married her for the convenience of having a typist for his scholarly papers. The discovery of a dark secret opens her eyes to the truth about her marriage and her husband. Eventually nephew Patrick and his wife, Rachel, take Sophia into their home, and she observes from a careful distance their earnest faith and the simple gifts of kindness they generously bestow upon her and others-this in spite of an unthinkable tragedy they've suffered. Dare she unlock the door behind which she stalwartly conceals her broken heart? An insightful and moving portrayal of the transforming power of love
User reviews
LibraryThing member debs4jc
Imagine gettng an assignment: You must write a novel and include a quote from Shakespeare and an allusion to birdwatching in each and every chapter. Could you do it? I know I couldn't, or that if I did it wouldn't we worth reading, but that's exactly what Jamie Langston Turner has done in this
Turner, in her usual relective manner, has this character, named Sophie, observe the world around her with great detail and insight. You wouldn't think an elderly woman who stays at home all day and watches TV would create much of a story, but through Sophie the reader learns about Patrick and Rachel, who are struggling to reconnect with people after the tragic kidnapping and death of their children. They reach out to their neighbors, who have one daughter who is severly disabled and another who is a teenager on the verge of self-destruction. And they also connect with Sam, a black man on parole after being jailed for a burglary attempt. And of course there is Sophie herself, whose own troubled past includes a husband who was shot to death by his son. As Sophie thinks about quotes from Shakespeare and about birds, the reader also sees how God is at work behind the scenes, bringing together unlikely people to form a community and to reveal his love.
I highly recommend this book, but read it when you have the time to do some reflection of your own. And you might also be inspired to brush up on your Shakespeare or to do some birdwatching afterwards. After all, who knows what you might learn from it?
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novel, and she makes it look effortless. Of course it helps that her main character is an 80 some year old woman who was married to a Shakespeare scholar and whose main occupation is watching the birds at the feeder outside of her window.Turner, in her usual relective manner, has this character, named Sophie, observe the world around her with great detail and insight. You wouldn't think an elderly woman who stays at home all day and watches TV would create much of a story, but through Sophie the reader learns about Patrick and Rachel, who are struggling to reconnect with people after the tragic kidnapping and death of their children. They reach out to their neighbors, who have one daughter who is severly disabled and another who is a teenager on the verge of self-destruction. And they also connect with Sam, a black man on parole after being jailed for a burglary attempt. And of course there is Sophie herself, whose own troubled past includes a husband who was shot to death by his son. As Sophie thinks about quotes from Shakespeare and about birds, the reader also sees how God is at work behind the scenes, bringing together unlikely people to form a community and to reveal his love.
I highly recommend this book, but read it when you have the time to do some reflection of your own. And you might also be inspired to brush up on your Shakespeare or to do some birdwatching afterwards. After all, who knows what you might learn from it?
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LibraryThing member booklovers2
80 yr old Sophia - married late in age, thought she had a wonderful marriage until the day her husband was shot and while on his death bed she discovered hidden files in her husbands office which discredited her entire married life. Bitter, cynical and judgemental as she sits in her apartment of
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nephew Patrick and his wife Rachel's home. Watching her birdhouse, the mortuary across the street and from her room, the comings and goings of Rachel and Patrick. Show Less
Awards
Christy Awards (Nominee — 2007)
Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year (Religious Fiction — 2006)
ISBN
0739472666 / 9780739472668