"Then she used a red marker to put a big X through May 22 on the wall calendar. She had made it through another day."
Can you feel the deep sadness here? Aggie and Harold have owned the Sleepy Time Motel for decades but now Harold has died and the motel is in need of serious repairs and there are no guests and the pile of unpaid bills is growing and growing.
"Nobody had come for a long, long time. Nobody had come since when? Auggie wondered. She flipped open the motel guest book and looked at the last entry. Nearly three months ago Mr. and Mrs. R.J. Perry from Ocala Florida."
It is time for Aggie to sell her home - the motel.
Meanwhile we meet Willow. It is Willow and her dad now because her mum just left one day. Willow has so many unanswered questions about her mum Dorothy. Her dad just won't talk about her. This is another family filled with sadness.
"His misery grew and grew until it filled up the whole house and seeped out of the doors and windows into the year. It floated over the patch of weeds that used to be flowers that Dorothy grew. It circled the swing set where willow used to play while Dorothy pinned wet sheets on the clothesline. And it snaked around the mailbox where willow waited every morning at ten o'clock."
Willow is so desperate to receive a letter from her mum she even writes them and posts them to herself. Then one morning things completely change. Her father reads an advertisement about a motel that is for sale - yes it is the Sleepy Time Motel in North Carolina.
The third person we meet in this story is Loretta. She is also looking for some thing so she can make sense of her life. Loretta is an adopted child. She has a beautiful loving family but she really knows nothing about her birth mother. On the day of this story though, a parcel arrives. Her mother has died and the box contains "all her earthly possessions". A tattered pincushion; a Japanese fan; a silver pocket watch; a picture of a hummingbird; a Bible; tiny scissors; a sparkly poodle dog pin; a pale blue handkerchief with the letter P embroidered in pink; a heart-shaped box made of red velvet and a silver charm bracelet. Oh and there is a photograph of a young girl about the same age as Loretta. The charm bracelet is the key to what happens next. Her mum and dad agree to visit all the places that match the charms. I imagine you have guessed that Loretta and her parents are going to end up at the Sleepy Time Motel.
Then we meet Kirby. Kirby is a troubled boy. His mum does not understand him and he does not like the latest step dad. Things have become so bad that he is now being sent juvenile detention centre/school. His step dad does not come on the long journey. The car is old and yes, it breaks down and yes this happens near the Sleepy Time Motel. Kirby is angry and desperately missing the only person who ever showed him any kindness - Burla Davis - the old lady from next door.
Now you have met all of the characters (the chapters alternate their voices) I invite you to read this wonderful story of healing and new beginnings. I am always drawn to books like this especially ones where places (and people) are in need of repairs. Oh, and this book, even though you know there HAS to be a happy ending, has just the right amount of tension to keep you flying through the pages. Hooray for Barbara O'Connor! This is resoundingly a five-star book.
I often look for character descriptions:
"Her face was lined and leathery, but her eyes were clear and sparkly. She kept pushing the stretched sleeves of her sweater up over her bony elbows."
"The one who smelled like lavender talcum powder. The one who made doll clothes out of dishcloths and cradles out of oatmeal boxes. The one who called her Lulu ..."
Publisher blurb: Aggie isn't expecting visitors at the Sleepy Time Motel in the Great Smoky Mountains. Since her husband died, she is all alone with her cat, Ugly, and keeping up with the bills and repairs has become next to impossible. The pool is empty, the garden is overgrown, and not a soul has come to stay in nearly three months. When she reluctantly places a For Sale ad in the newspaper, Aggie doesn't know that Kirby and his mom will need a room when their car breaks down on the way to Kirby's new reform school. Or that Loretta and her parents will arrive in her dad's plumbing company van on a trip meant to honor the memory of Loretta's birth mother. Or that Clyde Dover will answer the For Sale ad in such a hurry and move in with his daughter, Willow, looking for a brand-new life to replace the one that was fractured when Willow's mom left. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that Aggie and her guests find just the friends they need at the shabby motel in the middle of nowhere.
Companion reads:
No comments:
Post a Comment