White Picket Fences by Susan Meissner is about family helping family and in the process getting to know each other. The book begins with Amanda and Neil Janvier picking up their niece Tally at her grandmother's funeral. Tally's father - Amanda's brother - is somewhere in Europe but no-one knows exactly where. So Tally comes to stay with Amanda and Neil and their children Chase and Delcey.
Tally and Chase work together on a school project interviewing Holocaust survivors. Along the way they find that the ideal family that the world sees is not the reality of what their family is.
This is a great book showing the problems secrets create and how easily a family can drift apart.
From the publisher:
Amanda Janvier’s idyllic home seems the perfect place for her niece Tally to stay while her vagabond brother is in Europe, but the white picket fence life Amanda wants to provide is a mere illusion. Amanda’s husband Neil refuses to admit their teenage son Chase, is haunted by the horrific fire he survived when he was four, and their marriage is crumbling while each looks the other way.
Tally and Chase bond as they interview two Holocaust survivors for a sociology project, and become startlingly aware that the whole family is grappling with hidden secrets, with the echoes of the past, and with the realization that ignoring tragic situations won’t make them go away.
Readers of emotional dramas that are willing to explore the lies that families tell each other for protection and comfort will love White Picket Fences. The novel is ideal for those who appreciate exploring questions like: what type of honesty do children need from their parents, or how can one move beyond a past that isn’t acknowledged or understood? Is there hope and forgiveness for the tragedies of our past and a way to abundant grace?
For more information please check:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400074570&ref=externallink_wbp_whitepicketfences_sec_0916_01
I have a copy of this book for giveaway - just leave me a comment and a way to reach you by November 20th to be entered.
Jody
This book was provided by WaterBrook/Multnomah for review.
I love Susan Meissner 's books and would love to be entered! This one sounds wonderful!
ReplyDeletemartha(at)lclink(dot)com
Please enter me in the drawing. Really want to read this book.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Jo
ladijo40(at)aol(dot)com
Hi...enjoyed your review of Susan's book and would love to be entered in your giveaway. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Sandee
Muzzley56[at]aol[dot]com
I love Susan's books, too. I've read a good number of them so far~
ReplyDeletejoyfulhutch[at]msn[dot]com
Exposing family secrets bring healing. Would love to win this book.
ReplyDeletePlease enter me. Thanks.
desertrose5173 at gmail dot com
I would like to win a copy of "White Picket Fences", as my family problems also and it would be good to see how the author addresses this in her book.
ReplyDeleteelainehow{at}gmail{dot}com
I've heard about this book and have been interested in reading it. Please enter me in your drawing. Thanks.
ReplyDeletecepjwms at wb4me dot com
Great review. I have her first book on order and plan to read this one too. Barb C.
ReplyDeleteSusan writes the type of book I enjoy most and I would love to win a copy of White Picket Fences. Thank you for the giveaway, Jody.
ReplyDeletecjarvis [at] bellsouth [dot] net
I would love to win a copy of her book. Please enter me in the contest. My email address is shryackmom[@]charter[.]net
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