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A Journey To Here

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The past is a bridge to the future.

In Margaret Johnson-Hodge's newest literary offering, A Journey to Here, we find Sylvia "Suvie" Allen neck deep in what she considers a good life. Happily married for nineteen years to Emory, two wonderful adolescent daughters, Aaron and Monet.

However, the pretenses of Suvie's happiness step into the light when the past literally comes a knocking at her door. Phillip Butler, Suvie's first love from thirty years prior, is on her doorstep begging forgiveness and a second chance for the horrible act of betrayal that still haunts Suvie three decades later.

The teenage Phillip and Suvie had been on the road of heartfelt young romance, sure to end up at Lovers Lane, which crosses with Forever Boulevard. Virginal Suvie felt a stirring in her heart that she was sure would eventually lead her to give Phillip her greatest possessions, her everlasting love and her body. But when teenage Phillip, in an act of raging hormone weakness, engages Suvie's best friend, Dorothy, the walls of Phillip and Suvie's budding romance come crashing down.

Now, all these years later, Phillip wants out of his unhappy marriage to Dorothy and wants to start anew with Suvie. This causes Suvie to examine her deepest desires and reevaluate her own life. It's the catalyst for a series of events in her seemingly happy family that will have you on the edge of your seat. Suvie's husband, Emory, and her daughters, Aaron and Monet, will all face life-altering issues through the course of the novel, their triumphs and failings becoming the reader's joys and burdens, because the characters are so carefully drawn, so real you can practically feel their fingers on your skin.

The journey to understanding for Suvie and Emory, Phillip and Dorothy is handled with an artist's stroke in Johnson-Hodges' expert hands. MJH's storytelling skills and poetic word phrasing is a glass of lemon and sugar on a sweltering summer day. MJH manages to take even the minor characters and bring them to life. Her portrayal of Suvie's hairdresser, Betty, with her admonishment to Suvie, "breakage is your middle name", had me smiling ear to ear. Few authors take the time to bring forth fully realized characters, few authors value the reader as much as Margaret Johnson-Hodge. Every page, every word, is a blessed offering to those fortunate enough to pick up her novels. In this climate of underwhelming fiction, MJH is the salve, a novelist with gusto, stories that titillate your senses and stretch your emotions. Those looking for stories with high drama and no substance are best to look elsewhere. Those looking for stories that etch themselves in your soul long after the last page has been turned...your journey ends here, with Margaret Johnson-Hodge.

The overall premise of Margaret Johnson Hodge's latest novel
A JOURNEY TO HERE, centers on love: a lost love, a found love,
a wrong love and a right love. Love discreetly becomes the
seducer which charms the characters and makes them yearn to
turn back the years and recapture the gift that time stole.

At 15, Sylvia Allen falls in love, she happy because she is
cocooned by the innocent trust only a young woman/child can
have. But a betrayal by her boyfriend and her best friend rapes
her heart, leaving her bitter and withdrawn; no longer innocent
no longer trusting. But life goes on... after 19 years of
marriage, she has a solid life, a husband who can still make her
laugh and two daughters who have not succumbed to typical
teenage woes. Now 30 years after the betrayal, Sylvia comes face
to face withher past and she knows for the last 30 years she has
been suspended in time. Her wayward thoughts of settling her past
are ill-timed, and as she questions her life, her family starts
to fall apart. Her daughters do indeed have woes; she has just
been too preoccupied to notice. And her laughter comes less
frequently now as do her husband's attempts to invoke it. Key
reasons for Sylvia's turmoil is that after 30 years, she has not
healed, she has not been completely honest with her husband and
she has never entrusted her heart again.

Ms. Johnson-Hodge dares to bring conflict to her characters and
as usual she challenges them to divulge heartfelt truths. This is
a turbulent read, filled with blatant truisms and a multitude of
'what-ifs'. One of the strengths of this book is the fact that
the characters are realisticly weak and strong. One point the
author brings home is that a journey of any magnitude cannot be
accomplished without compromises. This book reaches your core in
the most basic way.

To say I was excited upon hearing Margaret Johnson Hodge would release a new novel this year would be an understatement. As I eagerly awaited my copy of A Journey To Here, the buzz was already aglow with praises like "you guys are going to love it" and "I cannot wait to discuss this book." As usual, MJH did not disappoint and I found myself adding A Journey to Here as an all-time favorite for 2003 with a cast of characters I felt like I have known for a lifetime.

Sylvia "Suvie" Allen has it all, according to best friend, Lisa, and other spectators. A mother to two teen-aged daughters, Aaron and Monet, and wife of nineteen years to Emory, Sylvia's life is coveted by many, but to her it is bittersweet. While she loves Emory and would not trade her daughters for the world, Sylvia cannot help but remember the feelings of betrayal and hurt by Phillip, her first true love and best friend, Dorothy. The treachery far behind her now, Sylvia attempts to bury the hatchet until a ringing of the doorbell. With Phillip on the other side a can of worms opens that she is not ready to face. But Phillip is just the beginning of the hurdles the Allens will face within the coming year. As Sylvia struggles to keep the past in the past, curiosity and a broken heart beg for answers and the closure she was deprived of years ago. As Sylvia wrestles with what life could have been and what it has become, Judas rears his head once again. Sylvia is left questioning if the past is worth losing her family as she and Emory struggle to reclaim the rhythm they once danced to.

MJH demonstrates why she is a national best-selling author with A Journey To Here. Hodge consistently creates characters that seem non-fictitious and more like familiar friends. It is often difficult to create many characters readers can empathize with besides the protagonist, but Hodge's adeptness with storytelling is magnificent. I recommend A Journey To Here to book clubs as MJH offers a debatable subject with relationships between fathers and daughters and if an idyllic marriage is attainable after years of longing for your first true love.

Reviewed by Nicki Lancaster
APOOO BookClub

MJH had done it again. I purchased the book when it was first released but still had a couple of books to finish first. Bad mistake on my part. I should have put them all down and got with the book.

It is a page turner and keeps you wanting more. Sylvia "Suvie", Emory, Philip and Dororthy. And oooh please don't let me forget that Aaron (the daughter you love to hate). This story is real, keeps you guessing and most importantly you can relate to it. It shows you how your past can come back to hurt you when you least expect it. And that you should be as honest as possible. We are all human and can't control the unexpected. It also teaches you when life throws you a lemon, you definitely have to make lemonade!!

Run out and get this book. Buy it as a gift!! Spread the Word. Margaret Johnson-Hodge has done it again!!

I want to thank you for staying with me on my journey as a writer and I hope my latest "A Journey To Here" is a pleasure to read. Seven books in sixth years was no easy feat, but you, the reader, keep me going. So I say thank you for all support and I hope that you will continue to enjoy the stories I tell...

Peace,
Author Margaret Johnson-Hodge

In my opinion, MJH is a very talented writer. I have throughly enjoyed all her books. Perhaps the reason I so enjoy the books is because she's writing about characters I identify with. In one of her previous works, I felt like she'd been reading my diary. Here she goes again, writing about things that are very real.
"It's been thirty years since Philip Butler laid eyes on his only true love - the woman he wronged so terribly years before". Realistically, many have thought about doing it so many times. How many would have the courage? What would be the consequences? A Journey to Here conjures so many questions. Makes one think.
Finally, the book uses very real diaglogue... a very refreshing change from most popular fiction. Very easy to read.

According to Margaret Johnson Hodge, the past can not be altered, yesterday is just that and tomorrow anything is possible.

One day Philip arrived on the doorstep of Sylvia Allen, his high school sweetheart. Philip, married for 30 years to Dorothy returned to New York to see if the flames of love could be rekindled.

Sylvia and Dorothy were best friends in high school until Philip came between them. Sylvia had been "holding out", but Dorothy "put out." Dorothy and Philip's tryst broke up her friendship with Sylvia.

For 30 years, Dorothy was the glue behind her marriage, telling Philip how to dress and what promotions to apply for. All of Dorothy's hard work paid off because Philip attained a nice solid middle class lifestyle with all the trappings and finery to go along with it, but something in the past still gnawed at his heart: Sylvia.

Sylvia was a stay at home mom dealing with teenage daughters. Aaron was rebellious and sneaking around to see boys; Monet was shy and bulimic.

When Sylvia caught Aaron in a compromising position with her boyfriend J'Qaun and Aaron discovered that the "stranger" Philip was her mom's long- lost teenage love, they made a pact not to divulge each other's secret. A pact Aaron broke the fateful day she told her father, Emery that Sylvia, his wife had kissed Philip.

In A Journey to Here, their lives were put together with bits of glue and dabs of spit. Philip's appearance back in Sylvia's life caused her to confront issues that she had locked away for thirty years in an airtight vault. Will the marriage of Emery and Sylvia survive? Will Monet overcome her bulimia?

This is a book about family and the compromises one makes to resolve past issues, a story that will keep the reader entranced in the power of love and forgiveness. Margaret Johnson Hodge's characters are fully developed with all the human idiosyncrasies. I enjoyed reading this novel, for the author writes about real life issues in a straight forward manner.

Helen
R.E.A.L. Reviewers

I've never read one of MJH's books before but when I read the back, I knew this was a book I would enjoy. I identified with Suvie in so many ways because my first love broke my heart, choosing to marry the young lady with whom he cheated on me. We never got to have that final conversation and a couple of months ago (11 yrs after we last saw each other) he reached out via a relative and sent a message to me. I had read "Journey" before this happened and wished for the opportunity to close that chapter once and for all. I just re-read "Journey" with a deeper appreciation. The difference between Suvie and I (and my biggest beef with her) is that I laid the past before my husband's feet in the very beginning of our relationship so there are no secrets and while he understands that my meeting with my ex is necessary for closure, he also understands that it's in no way a reflection of my love or adoration for him and our life together. Suvie disappointed me because her secrecry rather than infedility nearly destroyed her marriage. I also wondered what kind of dialogue she and Emory had in the beginning of their relationship that Philip and Dorothy never entered the conversation - it became clear that their relationship prior to this storm despite the 20 + years and two children was truly only on the surface - for her husband to be oblivious to such a deep hurt and betrayal was astounding. I LOVED the setting of the book having attended college and law school at St John's University. Queens holds an extra special place in my heart - I could visualize their neighborhood, Jamaica High School, Suvie driving on the Grand Central Parkway, etc. and it reminded me of some of the best (and saddest) times in my life.
All in all, this was a beautifully written book, I didn't love the ending but I understood it and recognized that anything different would not have been realistic for these characters. I understood exactly what Suvie meant when she said even though she was a grown woman and mother, at that moment she was 15 all over again, devastated by the betrayal that felt as fresh as yesterday - it was amazing to see those emotions put into such beautiful words. I am an avid reader - I love books but there are only two books that I can think of that have truly touched my soul - the first is Mama Day by Gloria Naylor and now A Journey to Here. For someone who has read hundreds if not well over a thousand books in her adult life, that is truly saying something.

I attended a reading recently at Barnes & Noble book store and Margaret Johnson-Hodge was there along with a lot of other gifted authors. Of all of the authors present, Mrs. Johnson-Hodge was the only one I'd met before. I've finally finished reading all the books I bought that day and I must say that they were all good. I had read one other book by Margaret before and although it was good, I liked this one better. The characters are so real and the message is a strong one. I agree with all the other reviewers who say that she is a gifted writer.

I have read and enjoyed all of Margaret Johnson Hodge books but for some reason this touched a special place in my heart. For anyone who has gone on to be a wife and mother but wondered and secretly dreamed about that first love that got way this will awaken your senses as you remember but it will also bring you to your senses. Our feaured lady in the story has a chance to go back and the choices she makes, the consequences of those choices will have you reading it and living it until the last page. I loved it.