8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful coming of age story, May 6, 2006
FIREFLY CLOAK by Sheri Reynolds
May 6, 2006
Amazon Rating: 4/5 stars
Having read THE RAPTURE OF CANAAN a number of years ago, I was quite excited to read and review FIREFLY CLOAK by Sheri Reynolds and I was not disappointed. While the two stories are different, I think fans of the first book will enjoy this one. The novel is about a girl who, along with her younger brother Travis, is abandoned by her mother at a campsite when she is only eight years old, and Travis is only four. The book opens with this scene at the campsite and is treated as a flashback. Their mother's parents pick them up, and their maternal grandparents are now raising the two children. The story then moves forward to the present, where Tessa Lee is a teenager, Travis has passed away, and she is on her way to finding her long lost mother who apparently had been living not too far away all this time.
I loved FIREFLY CLOAK (the title comes from the cloak that Sheila, their mother, leaves behind with the children). Sheri Reynolds has a way of writing with such beautiful prose. She did a good job at depicting the pain of abandonment that young Tessa Lee grows up with, while at the same time she yearns to see her mother again, to be reunited with the woman that gave birth to her. The grandmother, Lil, tries to raise Tessa Lee in a way that she can atone for her mistakes she made with her daughter, Sheila. She rules with a strict set of beliefs, mostly based on her rigid religious commitments, but at the same time she wonders if it was this same thinking that caused Sheila to run away at a young age, the start of her spiral downward.
And that brings us to Sheila, whose life has been one big mess after another. The man she ran away with was another fly by night relationship, and since those days Sheila did whatever she could to make a living, even turning tricks. But during all those years, she hasn't forgotten her children. Her story is told in-between the present story and the flashbacks of Tessa Lee's life, and it's not pretty. Between Lil's story, Tessa Lee's, and Sheila's, the reader will get a good picture of what their lives were like and what brought them all back together. The mystery of Travis' death will also be revealed to the reader, something that had me curious all the way up to the end. FIREFLY CLOAK is a somewhat tragic story and at the same time a coming of age tale that the reader will enjoy. I hope to see more by Sheri Reynolds. Her books are always something special and tend to remain in my mind for a long time.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An outstanding novel...on my "best of" list for 2006, April 26, 2006
I love a book that you blaze through in one day and weep when it's over. Both because it's poignant, beautiful and true, and because the writing humbles you with its exquisiteness.
Firefly Cloak by Sheri Reynolds is such a book.
Along with the Oprah hit Rapture of Canaan, Ms. Reynolds' excellent backlist includes the novels Bitterroot Landing and A Gracious Plenty. This latest offering shines amidst such quality work, and is sure to more than satisfy her longtime readers.
If you haven't sampled this author's work before, prepare yourself for a gorgeous, unforgettable read. You won't be disappointed.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
insightful character study, April 22, 2006
Seven years ago in Alabama addict Sheila left behind her two sleeping preadolescent children at a campground to run off with her latest loser. When the older of the two youngsters, eight-year-old Tessa Lee awakens, she finds her toddler brother Travis roaming by himself with a telephone phone number marked by a magic marker on his back and a colorful cloak adorned with fireflies wrapped around him.
Several years later, fifteen years old Tessa Lee has lived with her maternal grandparents especially grandma Lil since the desertion incident, but Travis has since died. When Tessa Lee learns that her mother works as a mermaid at a Massachusetts boardwalk museum she decides to confront her mom expecting a valid reason for her leaving her two children behind. Tessa Lee runs to Massachusetts, but the woman she used to call mom, is not the same; instead Sheila is a broken addict and offers little in the way of explanation. Will the child leave the mother this time as the grandmother worries she will fail for the third time as she believes she has with Sheila and Travis.
This is an insightful family drama that targets highs school students and their parents with a deep tale. The story line does not hold back when it comes to the three key women especially the harmful behavior of Sheila (to herself as much as her children); the desperate obsession to know why by Tessa Lee who feels guilt over her sibling's death; and Lil who takes responsibility for failing Shelia. The interrelationships that include the negative make for an insightful character study.
Harriet Klausner
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