Friday, February 26, 2010

The Girl Who Chased the Moon-Sarah Addison Allen

The Girl Who Chased the Moon
Sarah Addison Allen
Bantam, Mar 16 2010, $25.00
ISBN: 9780553807219

With the death of her mom Dulcie, Emily Benedict moves in with her maternal grandfather whom she never met in Mullaby, North Carolina. She hopes to better understand what motivated her mother to abruptly run away from home and never return. However, not everyone welcomes the daughter of Dulcie while the newcomer finds life with her gentle giant grandfather kind yet odd especially accentuated by the changing wallpaper.

Julia Winterson welcomes Emily with a cake. She hopes to pay off her dad’s debt, which would enable her to shut down his restaurant and leave town to open a bakery elsewhere. Sawyer hopes she will stay and give him her heart as she owns his. Win Coffey and Emily are attracted to one another too, but their families are at the heart of the secrets that the outsider seeks to learn.

This is a warm whimsical tale with a strong message of don’t relive past transgressions forever especially when the present provides a chance for a different future. Readers will be hooked to learn the Dulcie-Coffey secret and root for the two couples to make it. Not even Dean Smith paints Tarheel magic as well as Sarah Addison Allen does (see Garden Spells).

Harriet Klausner

No comments: