20 in 2014: Book Two

Morning Glory by Sarah Jio

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“You know, things fall apart. You grieve. And then you sit around and wait for things to somehow get perfect again. But they don’t. They never can. There is no perfect. There’s just different. But different can be wonderful.”

I devoured every page, every word, of this novel. I am often fascinated by the human story. The fact that each of us walks around with a tale to be told: many of us still weaving the threads that make up the tapestry of our life. Whether it may be fate, or destiny, if we brave the telling of our story to a common stranger, we often find a common pattern, or link.

One houseboat. Two women. They would never meet, separated by time and circumstance, yet the themes of their lives are eerily similar and poignantly woven together. 2008: Ada Santorini is desperately trying to break free from the tragic grief that envelops her. Following her doctor’s suggestion, she finds herself leasing a houseboat in Seattle: world’s away from her current New York City residence. As she tries to rebuild her broken heart, she finds herself taken with the individuals around her and the story of a woman no one willingly talks about. Sad and lonely, the houseboat community saves her. And changes her profoundly.

1950: Penny was a young, finishing school student simply running out for coffee when her life changes in an instant. A car pulls up, and an older gentlemen offers her a ride. Unknowingly, she accepts, later learning that he is one of the richest, most sought after bachelors in town: the artist himself, Dexter Wentworth. He sweeps her off her feet, marries her, and moves her into his houseboat. Their love peaks, and then plummets quickly as Dexter struggles to maintain his artistic prowess. Sad and lonely, the houseboat community saves her. And changes her profoundly.

Some people wallow in the life that existed before the tragic onset of “what ifs” and “what should have-beens”; however, some people work past that darkness and keep walking…eventually finding pieces of light, that if pieced together, can make for the pattern of a new tapestry. Two women. One houseboat. One extraordinary tale that illustrates the healing powers of time and distance.