The Girl Who Chased the Moon
Sarah Addison Allen
Random House
288 pages
When I was a little girl my grandmother would tell me the most fantastical stories, stories of magic and stories of wonder. When I was a little older she found me crying once and asked what was wrong and I told her that my friends said there’s no such thing as magic and her stories were lies. My grandmother raised my chin, dried my eyes and said, “child, there is magic all around us, but only for those who believe”. When I opened the pages of Sarah Addison Allen’s The Girl Who Chased The Moon, my grandmother’s words came back to me and I smiled and thought how fortunate it is that I still believe in magic.
Sarah gives us a uniquely wonderful story. A story about secrets, love lost and love found, about friendships and family, about learning from the mistakes of our past and going forward. She spins her tale with whimsical prose, words that take her readers on a journey to her small town of Mullaby North Carolina where we meet and intimate ourselves with her amazing characters. And what a cast of remarkable and memorable characters she gives us. Her co-heroines steal the show. First we have teenage Emily Benedict who after her mother’s tragic death finds herself in her mother’s hometown with a grandfather she didn’t know existed. Then there’s Julia Winterson returning to the town of her childhood after her father’s death to take over his restaurant, with the intensions of selling it and getting out of dodge with her two year plan. Sarah also gives us a remarkable and unforgettable cast of supporting characters, a gentle giant, a family with unimaginable oddities and other characters that will imbed themselves in your head and your heart and all of them help to complete the story. She has some love scenes and while a few are sensual they would not offend any reader or any age of reader.
So if you believe in magic still or you want to this novel is the one you must turn to. It will give you that warm and fuzzy feeling that comes when magic takes flight and dreams come true. It’s a definite must read of 2010. And if you want more magic Sarah has two other novels you should try, Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen and let love and magic back in your life.
I love this author - I'm so excited to read this!
ReplyDeleteOh Becke, if you loved her other books, you will not be disappointed.
ReplyDeleteDeb
Great review, Debbie! I have read her other books and can't wait to get this one. Donna :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Donna, I agree she's great. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did
ReplyDeleteDeb
I just found your blog today, and I am glad I did! You have a real talent for writing reviews!
ReplyDeleteI read this book last month, and while I did finish it, I did not enjoy it nearly as much as the other 2. In fact, the first time I put it down, I had no real desire to pick it back up. Whereas with The Sugar Queen and Garden Spells I never wanted to put them down, and when I had to, I just could not wait to pick them back up! Of course, I did pick it back up and finish the book, but not because I really loved the story. I mean, even though I wasn't all that interested in the story I had to read it because I love the way she writes!(does that even make sense.....lol) To me that makes Sarah Addison Allen a great author.
I just heard from a friend that she does have another novel that is really good as well, but was only published as an audiobook.
Marilu, thank you for your kind words. Sarah is one of my always go-to authors. And your comment makes a lot of sense, we all find our favorite authors in different ways, some of us love the stories and some of us love the way they tell them. I like both. I hope to see you soon, if you like it here come visit the B&N General Fiction book club were I moderate, I'm sure you'll find a lot of good reads there.
ReplyDeleteThanks again for visiting
deb