January Book Review: Lisa Wingates "The Story Keeper"
Hello all! It's been forever and a day since I've uploaded a post, but in the course of this crazy blessed life I seem to have forgotten my love of reading and writing and sharing my own thoughts (shocker, right?)
Anyhoo, this next year my goal will be for two posts a month. One short story, and one book review. This will not only help me keep my creative juices flowing, but keep my nose in books rather than in Netflix! Now, I will admit that time to sit down and read is hard to make, but I have recently been swept away into the world of audio books. That is how I came across this most recent read. Looking through the site, hoping to find a gem, I discovered something slightly out of my normal reading range.
The Story Keeper follows Jen Gibbs, i.e. Jennia Beth, as she begins her new job as an editor for a small but thriving publishing company in New York City. This company just so happens to be the only one that still has a physical "slush pile". A pile of manuscripts send in before email, yellowing and aging, that had been rejected. As her first week is coming to an end, Jen discovers a manuscript on her desk. Envelope old and yellowed, the seal no longer holding it closed. As she reads what's inside, she is transported back in time, following the story of a young girl trying to escape her captors and her young saviour. Their journey to escape, and eventually to love, captures her in the three chapters she has received.
With approval from her superiors, she is sent on a mission to find the author and get the rest of the manuscript. This is easier said than done, with the perspective author shouting himself up on his mountain, keeping to himself save for an ailing grandmother, aging aunt, and spunky young niece. Yet as bits and pieces of the manuscript end up at her rental cabin, she knows that there is something more to this story than she realized.
The story takes place in the Blue Ridge Mountains, transporting us to the beautiful yet dangerous place that Jen used to call home. Dealing with family issues as well as a grumpy and uncooperative author, she's at her wits end. But just when things seem hopeless-that she will never know how the story ends-the truth falls into place with the simple pop of a communion box.
This book was out of the norm for me, as I generally prefer to ready dystopian novels written for those several years younger than me. However, the more I read about Jennie Beth and her family, the more heartbroken I became. Her own personal story came unraveled and was reviewed to be one of escape-making something of herself out of the nothing she was taught to believe that she was.
Resonating with me in ways a book has not in a long while, The Story Keeper was a thoroughly enjoyable read with many many twists and turns. I was thrilled to realize that it was a book that could be enjoyed by anyone-with no foul language or intense romance to speak of. As it came to an end I was on the edge of my seat, enthralled with the main story and the one that they were working towards unraveling.
I have tried my best to keep from sharing too much about the events of the book, in hopes that you will be intrigued enough to go and look for it yourself. The perfect escape from this busy world, The Story Keeper entwined two stories beautifully.
Anyhoo, this next year my goal will be for two posts a month. One short story, and one book review. This will not only help me keep my creative juices flowing, but keep my nose in books rather than in Netflix! Now, I will admit that time to sit down and read is hard to make, but I have recently been swept away into the world of audio books. That is how I came across this most recent read. Looking through the site, hoping to find a gem, I discovered something slightly out of my normal reading range.
The Story Keeper follows Jen Gibbs, i.e. Jennia Beth, as she begins her new job as an editor for a small but thriving publishing company in New York City. This company just so happens to be the only one that still has a physical "slush pile". A pile of manuscripts send in before email, yellowing and aging, that had been rejected. As her first week is coming to an end, Jen discovers a manuscript on her desk. Envelope old and yellowed, the seal no longer holding it closed. As she reads what's inside, she is transported back in time, following the story of a young girl trying to escape her captors and her young saviour. Their journey to escape, and eventually to love, captures her in the three chapters she has received.
With approval from her superiors, she is sent on a mission to find the author and get the rest of the manuscript. This is easier said than done, with the perspective author shouting himself up on his mountain, keeping to himself save for an ailing grandmother, aging aunt, and spunky young niece. Yet as bits and pieces of the manuscript end up at her rental cabin, she knows that there is something more to this story than she realized.
The story takes place in the Blue Ridge Mountains, transporting us to the beautiful yet dangerous place that Jen used to call home. Dealing with family issues as well as a grumpy and uncooperative author, she's at her wits end. But just when things seem hopeless-that she will never know how the story ends-the truth falls into place with the simple pop of a communion box.
This book was out of the norm for me, as I generally prefer to ready dystopian novels written for those several years younger than me. However, the more I read about Jennie Beth and her family, the more heartbroken I became. Her own personal story came unraveled and was reviewed to be one of escape-making something of herself out of the nothing she was taught to believe that she was.
Resonating with me in ways a book has not in a long while, The Story Keeper was a thoroughly enjoyable read with many many twists and turns. I was thrilled to realize that it was a book that could be enjoyed by anyone-with no foul language or intense romance to speak of. As it came to an end I was on the edge of my seat, enthralled with the main story and the one that they were working towards unraveling.
I have tried my best to keep from sharing too much about the events of the book, in hopes that you will be intrigued enough to go and look for it yourself. The perfect escape from this busy world, The Story Keeper entwined two stories beautifully.
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