Elizabeth Musser, Searching for Eternity

Searching for Eternity

Elizabeth Musser

Bethany House, Oct 2007, $13.99

ISBN 9780764203725

In the 1960s born and raised in France, Emile de Bonnery, accompanied by his mother, leaves for Atlanta to live with his maternal grandmother. He is upset with the change failing to adapt to his new home. Instead he is angry with his father who be believes deserted his mother and abandoned him for another woman; although at mellower moments Emile romanticizes that his dad is a spy.

However, Emile's attitude abruptly changes when he meets Eternity Jones as he learns how good he has it with the love of maternal relatives. Instead he finds her world is filled with poverty and racism accentuated by alcoholism. As his open minded grandmother shows him by her actions the way to welcome people regardless of race, religion, or economics, Emile learns faith in the Lord's plan keeps Eternity being stronger than he is as he only has material superiority.

This is a deep look at a changing Atlanta through four decades of the life of French immigrant Emile de Bonnery as he sees how much his adopted city changes from segregation to integration ultimately with black political control. The use of newspaper clippings enhance the feel for the metamorphosis, but also slow the narrative. Still this character driven tale provides a puissant relevant glimpse of how Atlanta became the jewel of the south thanks in part to people like Emile's grandmother who proved with her actions that all people matter and Eternity who affirmed the belief that everyone is someone important.

Harriet Klausner