I cannot believe the last time I wrote on my blog was three years ago.
Though I never stopped reading I was too busy to write because of my work and photoshop addiction. Then I realized I need to start blogging because everytime I look for a new book to read., I end up wondering if I read them already. I was mostly disappointed with the books I read this year except for three which stuck in my mind. They are:
1. The Swallow: A Ghost Story by Charis Cotter-a story about two children who communicated via the wall that separated their attics in their adjoining homes.
2. The Woman Outside My Door by Rachel Ryan- about a woman who was concerned that her son has a new imaginary grandma who meets him regularly.
3. Flicker in the Dark by stacy Willingham-an excellent book about a psychologist whose dad was incarcerrated 20 years ago for kidnapping and killing young girls. Then for some reason the kidnapping starts again. If I have time, I will write a review about this book.
Now back to Heather's book.
Allison Glenn is a teenager who is sent to prison for killing her newborn child. The story is told by 4 characters-Allison, her younger sister,Brynn, Charm and Claire. After 5 years in jail , Allison is released due to exemplary behaviour at age 21. She is placed in a halfway home. While there, she tries desperately to get a hold of her sister who refuses to talk to her.
There is a woman who owns a bookstore named Claire who has an adopted son . Claire has a frequent visitor named Charm who shows an attachment to her adopted son,Joshua. As for Allison, the halfway matron gets her a job at the bookstore. That's where everything starts to unravel.
Allison gets pregnant by a guy whose name is Christopher. His sister name is Charm and they both live with thir loving stepfather named Gus. She managed to hide her pregnancy because she is tall and has a long torso. When she gives birth, the first child, a girl, came out without breathing. Thinking the child was dead, Brynn, took the body to bury it but it was raining furiously. Hence she slipped and dropped the child into the raging river after realizing it was alive.
The distraught sister came back wanting to kill herself only to find out Allison gave birth to twins. The other child was a boy, Joshua. She couldn't take care of him so she gave him to Christopher who did not want anything to do with the child. His sister, Charm , then took the child. Since their fireman stepdad was very ill ,they decided to drop the baby off at the fire station. After doing this Gus, the stepfather ,called the authorities to report that someone left a baby at the station. As for Allison, seeing she caused eveything , allows the authorities to blame her for the baby girl's death. This practically destroys Brynn.
That is how Claire got the baby as her husband also worked at the firestation.
Finally the 4 women meet and find out what really happened. Brynn, who was already mentally ill because of what happened, tries to drown Joshua so that he would join his sister in heaven. Allison saves the boy and promises Claire she will not try to get custody of Joshua. Charm and Allison bids the boy farewell on separate occassions'and promises Claire they would not show themselves again to the family.
The sad part was that Brynn was so bereft she kills herself. Then they find her diary which retells the whole sordid incident, thus exonerating Allison from the previous "crime". It was so heart wrenching!
