In Bringing Maggie Home, Kim Vogel Sawyer has written a novel that pulls you in with the mother-daughter-granddaughter dynamic and keeps you engaged with a decades-old mystery.
Decades of loss, an unsolved mystery, and a rift spanning three generations
Hazel DeFord is a woman haunted by her past. While berry picking in a blackberry thicket in 1943, ten-year old Hazel momentarily turns her back on her three-year old sister Maggie and the young girl disappears.
Almost seventy years later, the mystery remains unsolved and the secret guilt Hazel carries has alienated her from her daughter Diane, who can't understand her mother's overprotectiveness and near paranoia. While Diane resents her mother's inexplicable eccentricities, her daughter Meghan-a cold case agent-cherishes her grandmother's lavish attention and affection.
When a traffic accident forces Meghan to take a six-week leave-of-absence to recover, all three generations of DeFord women find themselves unexpectedly under the same roof. Meghan knows she will have to act as a mediator between the two headstrong and contentious women. But when they uncover Hazel's painful secret, will Meghan also be able to use her investigative prowess to solve the family mystery and help both women recover all that's been lost?
Bringing Maggie Home is simply fascinating. It's mainly set in the present day, when cold case detective Meghan goes to stay with her grandmother Hazel while she recuperates following an accident. Meghan's mother Diane, who has always had a contentious relationship with her mother, decides to visit, too. While there, Meghan and Diane stumble across evidence that Hazel had a sister named Maggie they never knew about, and the three women decide to enlist Meghan's partner Sean's help in discovering what happened to Maggie.
The search for Maggie is really just a fascinating backdrop for the real heart of the novel, which is the relationships between the three women. Each woman's story is told from her own perspective, and I found their hurts and motivations to be fascinating.
As I read, I was never sure where the story was going to go. I mean, I assumed the women would reconcile and that Meghan (and probably Diane) would find faith, but I really didn't know what would happen with the Maggie investigation. The path that the story ultimately took surprised me, and I found it to be incredibly satisfying.
In Bringing Maggie Home, Kim Vogel Sawyer weaves a beautiful story with strong messages of faith, trust, and hope. It's wonderfully poignant novel that captivated me from the first page, and I highly recommend it. 5 stars.
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Read my review of of Sawyer's Sweet Sanctuary (4-1/2 stars), Song of My Heart (4 stars), and When Grace Sings (4-1/2 stars).
Kim Vogel Sawyer is a highly acclaimed, best-selling author with more than one million books in print, in several different languages. Her titles have earned numerous accolades including the ACFW Carol Award, the Inspirational Readers Choice Award, and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. Kim lives in central Kansas with her retired military husband Don, where she continues to write gentle stories of hope and redemption. She enjoys spending time with her three daughters and grandchildren.
Find out more about Kim at http://www.kimvogelsawyer.com/.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Litfuse Publicity Group. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."
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Haha! Of course I'm reading this one too! Almost finished.
ReplyDeleteMy review will go up next week. :-)
I'll look for it :-)
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