Debbie Macomber, Susannah's Garden

Susannah's Garden

Debbie Macomber

Mira, May 2006, $23.95

ISBN: 0778323021

Now fifty, Susannah Nelson, wife to her husband Joe who adores her, and mother to two wonderful teens (Chrissie and Brian), enjoys teaching fifth graders in Seattle. Not everything is perfect in her life, as her dad George recently died, and her mom Vivian seems increasingly incapable of taking care of herself. However, what eats at her soul most is recent dreams of her first love from high school Jake Presley.

When Susannah turned eighteen, her parents sent her overseas to school. She said her goodbyes to Jake, her brother Doug and her parents, not realizing that she would never see her boyfriend or sibling again. Not long after she left, Doug died in a car crash and Jake vanished. Feeling an obsession to know what happened to Jake, Susannah returns to Colville, Washington, allegedly to settle her mother in a nursing home. As friction at home suddenly rises from her college aged daughter turned rebel, Susannah, with help from a private investigator begins to learn the truth of what happened over three decades ago that tie Jake's disappearance with Doug's death.

SUSANNAH'S GARDEN is a fascinating character study, that makes the case that hiding facts in order to protect a loved one is not necessarily doing that person any favors. Susannah is an intriguing protagonist as her family cherishes her, though a revolt by her daughter has begun and she loves teaching, yet finds increasingly pondering choices made for her when she was eighteen until she fixates on learning what happened. Though the support cast seems one-dimensional in comparisons to the fully developed deep star, fans of poignant contemporary tales will appreciate this deep look at a middle age adult struggling to come to terms with the pivotal year in her life, even though over three decades have passed.