Title: Heart Echoes
Author: Sally John
Publisher: Tyndale House
Date: Feb 2012
ISBN: 978-1414327870
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Reviewed by: Patricia Woodside
Secrets drive this story about a female attorney, wife and mother, who will do whatever is necessary to help others, but who has severed ties with her family and hometown because dealing with them are more than she can handle.
Heart Echoes begins with a bang, literally, as the earth shakes and the impact of the massive earthquake unfolds right before Teal Morgan-Adams’s eyes. Before the earthquake, Teal’s life is all that she wants it to be, or at least all that she is willing to acknowledge she wants. But her daughter, Maiya, a typical teen, is upsetting the apple cart by way of her increasing desire to learn the secret of her biological father’s identity, something Teal has never revealed, even to her family. River Adams, Teal’s devoted husband, who completely adores her, is doing all he can to support Teal as she wrestles with her daughter’s needs and copes with her estranged family, but he wonders whether it will be enough for her and for their marriage.
I loved John’s style, heavy on dialogue, less so on setting and narrative, which is not to say that either is missing or where included, not beautifully done. John is an expert storyteller and writer. The story flowed and unfolded at just the right pace from the first page until the last.
It would be difficult not to understand Teal’s plight, yet I found myself wanting to push her to come to terms with her past, if not for her daughter, then for herself so that she can be healed and become whole.
Teal eventually confronts her demons and in doing so, teaches herself-and the readers-that the journey to wholeness is unique, unscripted and uncontrollable. It happens as it happens, some steps occurring with a push while others occur organically. Thankfully, deliverance for Teal comes in a way that will cause this story to echo in the hearts of John’s readers for a long time.
Review by: Patricia Woodside
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