Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The Inheritance of Beauty by Nicole Seitz


George Jacobs and his childhood sweetheart Maggie, along with her brother Ash, were just kids living in small-town Levy, SC, when the train brought a magician and Joe Stackhouse into town. What happens next changes all of their lives forever. Eighty years later, George and Maggie are spending their remaining days in a nursing home. After a mysterious package arrives, followed by a new resident at the nursing home whose identity haunts them, Maggie and George are forced to remember a past they'd rather forget.

The story was bittersweet with mix of suspense and even humor. It's told from the point of view of Maggie, George and Annie. Later on, we hear Ash's point of view through old letters written by him. The story goes back and forth between the year 1929 and the present. There is a large group of characters, but the short excerpts told by each one is easy to follow and leaves you wanting to find out more. I so enjoy books that have different characters narrating each chapter. None of the characters are perfect, each have a mixture of good and bad in them and decisions they have suffered over. I was riveted and anxious to find out what tragic event happened to these characters eighty years ago. This book encourages you to speak the truth and believe in miracles. Guilt, grief and redemption are some themes in this tale.

The author did a really nice job inhabiting her elderly characters. I would definitely recommend this book to others. I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers. The opinions I have expressed are my own.


No comments: