Customer Reviews

When Light Breaks

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Should an old woman's story change the present?" Kara Larson asks in WHEN LIGHT BREAKS. The power of storytelling is at the heart of Patti Callahan Henry's new novel, and as Kara discovers, stories are sometimes more than simply entertaining tales.

Returning to the Carolina Lowcountry (also the setting for her novels LOSING THE MOON and WHERE THE RIVER RUNS), Henry brings together two women from different generations who share a common bond: each lost her first love. For one of these women, memories are all that remain. But for the other, who's about to make a life-altering decision, there is the possibility of a second chance --- if she has the courage to take it.

Twenty-seven-year-old Kara lives in her childhood home with her widowed father in the small town of Palmetto Pointe, South Carolina, where jasmine scents the air and Spanish moss drapes the stately oaks that line Main Street. Ever the good girl, Kara has always done the things other people believe are right for her --- including setting aside her desire to become a photographer in favor of a more "suitable" job, and becoming engaged to professional golfer Peyton Ellers.

The turning point in Kara's well-ordered life comes when she is assigned to visit a resident at a local nursing home. Six hours behind on her volunteer quota for the Palmetto Pointe Junior Society, Kara views it as another task to be completed and crossed off her to-do list...until she meets Maeve Mahoney. Ninety-six-year-old Maeve begins to tell Kara a story about the boy she loved and lost in Ireland more than eight decades earlier. During their first visit she also asks Kara if the man she is marrying is her first love, sending Kara on her own memory-laden trip into the past.

Jack Sullivan was the boy next door and Kara's first love, until the morning 13 years ago when his mother spirited away her two sons to escape an abusive husband. Maeve's question makes Kara, who is set to marry Peyton in two months, realize that she has never fully put the past --- and her long-buried feelings for Jack --- to rest. Kara's curiosity is piqued about the direction Jack's life might have taken, and a cursory search reveals that he is a songwriter for a band called the Unknown Souls.

Kara, a PGA TOUR manager, organizes golf tournaments and events with the same precision with which she orchestrates her life. In addition to planning a lavish wedding for 400 guests, she's overseeing a benefit gala for the first-ever Palmetto Pointe Open. When the band scheduled to play at the event cancels, Kara thinks of Jack and makes a solo road trip to Savannah to hear the Unknown Souls in concert --- and to renew her acquaintance with Jack.

As Kara becomes increasingly intrigued by the rambling narrative Maeve unfolds over the course of their visits --- a true story intertwined with Irish legend --- she gradually comes to recognize that she found her future 13 years ago. And along with a rekindling of her romance with Jack, Maeve's story leads Kara to finally start living her life the way she wants.

WHEN LIGHT BREAKS is a multi-faceted tale. Henry (who is of Irish descent) enhances the love-triangle storyline with an Emerald Isle myth, a sultry Southern setting, dashes of humor, and compellingly drawn characters. "All anyone ever wants to do is get to the end of the story," Maeve tells Kara. "It is not about how it ends; it is about the journey. The full story. You have to know the full story to care about or know the ending." Take heed of Maeve's advice. Savoring the details will make the journey through the pages of WHEN LIGHT BREAKS all the more enjoyable.

--- Reviewed by Shannon McKenna

I loved this book! It rates up there with Losing the Moon. It's a very sweet story about how our beliefs about the past, what other people believe we should be, affect us. It's also a lesson for us to find our own way and follow the passions within us with or without familial support. It takes a lot of courage sometimes to follow one's heart, but it can be so worth it in the long run. I love the characters; they were very real people to me. I would highly recommend this one.

This is one of the best books I have read. The author has a wonderful and fluid way of writing that gives the prose she writes a flowing poetic way of moving through the places of ones life that enables the reader to look at the dark and light places of his or herself and the times one spends growing up. In order to discover the truth that seems to be waiting to reveal itself through the gift of human experience whether it seems to be hidden or fully revealed at the time, she moves us through each revelation. All things seem to be fully revealed through the gift of time and through each revelation comes the fulfillment of who one truly is to become. We worth the time and effort expended in the reading. I have now read two of the four books that this author has written, and am looking forward to reading the rest of her work.

Twenty-seven years old Kara Larsen feels the stress of planning her wedding to PGA star Peyton Ellis is worth the pressure. However, in spite of no time between her job with the PGA and her upcoming nuptials, Kara fulfills a commitment she made to her South Carolina hometown based Palmetto Pointe Junior Society by visiting nonagenarian Maeve Mahoney at the Verandah House Nursing Faculty.

However, instead of a quick one time trip, Kara finds Maeve fascinating as the older woman relates the story of her first love in such a lyrical way that the visitor wonders if this is fiction. She returns several times to hear more. Finally Maeve encourages her not to settle, but to find her true love. Kara thinks back to Jack Sullivan, her first love and ponders whether she is doing the right thing by marrying Peyton. She decides to search for Jack if for no other reason so that she has no regrets when she is ninety-six and telling some youngster about the love of her life.

This is a fascinating character study that concentrates on pivotal moments in which one makes a life decision. Kara and Maeve are fabulous protagonists as they discuss love and choices. Readers will commiserate with Kara even if you feel you made the right selection for you in terms of a significant other because her doubts ring genuine with application to any selecting of a critical path in life.

Harriet Klausner

This book is written entirely without the unique style and inflection that I cherished in her first book. It's almost as if her editor commanded her to write another book, and therefore the story and approach feel uninspired.

I find her word choices slightly lazy, and even repetitive, and her metaphors, in my opinion, feel forced. She constantly compares things to natural images of the coastal South: beach, shore and marsh motifs, but it's done almost slavishly, and this gets tiresome after awhile. (Not exactly "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek".)

Since I'm a writer myself, I may be a little more picky than other readers. Yes, I demand a lot from the books I read. And I don't think this one lives up to the reviews. Still, the story line itself is just juicy enough and down-to-earth to keep your interest. And Patti: sorry to be so harsh. I still admire your honesty and creativity as a writer.

I just loved this story. It wasn't bogged down with heavy description. Just enough information to get a good picture/sense of things. It moved right along and kept you a bit on edge wondering what the next page was going to bring. Learning about how to trust your SELF and not put your TRUE feelings aside is quite often a difficult thing to do. I thought the storyline was a good cautionary tale - about how mistakes can be made raising a family and the consequences that have to be faced and overcome. It wasn't heavy laden in sadness -- don't misunderstand -- it told the tale in a wonderful way that was both entertaining and fun as well as serious enough to give the book it's purpose. How to love our children as well as ourselves so we can move in the right direction to see who our true soul mate just might be.

I'm so happy to find another author that writes like good wine flows. Loved Maeve! Looking forward to reading the rest of her books.

This writer tells a story that grabs you from the first page and you can't put the book down, but also hate to come to the last page.

I have read several of the author's books and loved everyone of them. If you like the Southeast coastline lore, this is a book for you. Her ability to create wonderful characters and places is very enjoyable!

I like this author, it was a nice story. Well written and easy to read.