Sam M. reviewed on 9/19/2005 + 109 more book reviews

In this excellent novel for the inspirational market, Collins uses her talent for suspense (Eyes of Elisha) in a more memoirlike tale that flashes back and forth between the 1960s and the 1990s as it explores a mother/daughter relationship. As the story opens, we find that 35-year-old Celia Matthews left home 17 years before, sure that it was her harsh words that drove her little brother, Kevy, from the house and prompted his bicycle accident. Wracked with guilt, embittered toward her mother and conflicted about her botched romance with Danny Cander, Celia shook the dust of small-town Bradleyville, Ky., off her feet and crafted a life for herself as an account executive in Little Rock, Ark. But her lack of mother-love isn't shaken off so easily. She bobs in and out of several relationships, losing her faith and emotionally treading water. Only when her father has a stroke and her mother pleads for help are the wheels of reconciliation set in motion. The story is beautifully written and the characters (whom readers will recognize from Collins's related stand-alone novel Cast a Road Before Me) are well developed, although the pacing drags in spots. The reason for Celia's lack of mother-love is not explained as neatly as might be wished; conversely, the conclusion is like a fairy tale, a contrivance that readers, depending on their tastes, may appreciate or find disappointing in. Overall, this novel exemplifies how Christian fiction is finally coming of age.

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