Jamie Langston Turner Winter Birds

Winter Birds

Jamie Langston Turner

Bethany House, Sep 2006, $12.99

ISBN 0764200151

Retired teacher widow Sophia Hess found her late husband's legacy quite a shocker as learns her spouse the professor had a deep penchant for pornography. The collection is quite a stunner, but also serves as a catalyst to look back on her life of never being loved and explains why they remained childless. She now realizes he only wed her because he needed an easy to control office assistant.

Not wanting to live alone and being wealthy, she offers her fortune to the family member that takes her into their home. In Greenville, Mississippi, nephew Patrick and his wife Rachel offer their home to Aunt Sophie. The octogenarian assumes they welcome her so they can get at her money. However, she wonders about the menagerie of visitors like the disabled child and though he is a bit pompous why Patrick and Rachel, hurt by personal tragedy, still deeply believe in the Lord while fully welcoming Sophie to do more than check the obituaries as they show her they care for one another and offer her the same affection.

Action fans will want to pass on this deep character study that uses the story line as a device to enable readers to look closely at Sophia. Initially the plot seems depressing and sort of dull as the elderly woman reflects on her life especially marriage. The tale picks up a bit as the skeptical Sophia moves in with her nephew expecting an avarice relative conducting a death watch. However, instead she gets a somewhat optimist nurturing caretaking couple who want the best for her as they teach this old dog new tricks about love for each other and affectionately caring for another by welcoming her into their nest. Great use of the story line to provide a profound relationship drama as few writers can achieve.

Harriet Klausner