Things Left Unspoken by Eva Marie Everson
Paperback: 381 pages
Publisher: Revell (June 1, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0800732731
ISBN-13: 978-0800732738
***Just a reminder that I’m giving this book away. See this blog entry for details.
From Amazon.com
From the Back Cover
Every family–and every house–has its secrets. Jo-Lynn Hunter is at a crossroads in life when her great-aunt Stella insists that she return home to restore the old family manse in sleepy Cottonwood, Georgia. Jo-Lynn longs to get her teeth into a noteworthy and satisfying project. And it’s the perfect excuse for some therapeutic time away from her husband. Beneath the dust and the peeling wallpaper, things are not what they seem, and what Jo-Lynn doesn’t know about her family holds just as many surprises. Was her great-grandfather the pillar of the community she thought he was? What is Aunt Stella hiding? And will her own marriage survive the renovation? Jo-Lynn isn’t sure she wants to know the truth–but sometimes the truth has a way of making itself known.
Jo-Lynn Hunter has lost her job. She’s also recently lost her elderly Uncle Jim. Estranged from her husband, Evan, Jo-Lynn needs a project to keep her busy. She agrees to help restore the old family mansion in Cottonwood Georgia as part of a town restoration project. However, as she begins to clean the house and go through it, she finds secrets lurking in the walls of the big house. Was her great-grandfather really a pillar in the Cottonwood community? Should she keep his illicit affairs hidden?
Jo-Lynn’s life is plagued with secrets, and, as she continues to work on the house, she finds that her life is now in danger. Who wants to stop her from doing this project and why would somebody actually set her family home on fire?
Upon her visit in Cottonwood, Jo-Lynn makes friends who make a great impact upon her life. There’s Valentine Bach, the elderly carpenter who rebuilds her home with his crew. She finds that he shares more with her family than just a casual frienship. She also makes friends with Karol, a consultant who is helping with the Cottonwood restoration project. However, when Jo-Lynn befriends a set of teen-aged twin girls, she wonders what her life would have been like if she’d had children. Still angered at her husband, Evan, for not wanting children in their lives, she wonders if there’s hope for them to work through their numerous marital problems.
There’s also a serious twist, one that I was totally not expecting, towards the end of the novel. Also the spiritual thread is lightly woven throughout the story without being too preachy. This book is a nice, cozy, lightly-suspenseful read.
Here is the press release from the publisher:
Life in the South—and the secrets it keeps
A project to revamp an old family house takes readers on a windy ride through past and present in this rich, contemporary novel
Inspired by author Eva Marie Everson’s own Southern family, her latest book, Things Left Unspoken, has been described as “a lovely and deeply moving story,” and “Southern in the best tradition.”
In this stand-alone novel, main character Jo-Lynn Hunter is at a crossroads in life when her great-aunt Stella insists that she return home to restore the old family house in sleepy Cottonwood, Georgia. Seeing the project as the perfect excuse for some therapeutic time away from her self-absorbed husband and his snobby Atlanta friends, Jo-Lynn longs to get her teeth into a noteworthy and satisfying project.
Beneath the dust and the peeling wallpaper, things are not what they seem, and what Jo-Lynn doesn’t know about her family holds just as many surprises. Was her great-grandfather the pillar of the community she thought he was? What is Aunt Stella hiding? And will her own marriage survive the renovation?
Jo-Lynn isn’t sure she wants to know the truth—but sometimes the truth has a way of making itself known.
“…a splendid book by one of the South’s best contemporary authors.”
“…a gateway into a world of small towns, family secrets and lost loves.”
“…a story of restoration, not only of a house and town,
but of innermost parts of a human being.”
Eva Marie Everson is an award-winning author, a successful speaker, and a popular radio personality. She is coauthor of the Potluck Club series and the Potluck Catering Club series. Things Left Unspoken was inspired by her own Southern family history. She lives in Casselberry, Florida.
Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, offers practical books that bring the Christian faith to everyday life. They publish resources from a variety of well-known brands and authors, including their partnership with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and Hungry Planet.
For more information, visit www.RevellBooks.com.
Excerpt from Things Left Unspoken
In the early days, beyond the rose-covered trellises on the back porch, perfect rows of vegetables for canning and freezing were planted, both for our family and for neighbors in need when there was abundance. Standing behind the small garden was the farm. It extended alongside the highway that ran beside the left side of the house. The crops stretched toward the horizon and out of sight, interrupted only by the leaning of an old barn, the rise of a tin silo, or the deliberate movement of a John Deere tractor.
But those days were long gone. That was a time when everything seemed to be about life and living. These past few decades, the earth hadn’t been tilled or loved. No planting, no praying for rain, no harvesting. Nothing to show for what had been except the gray of the packed soil and an occasional twig rising up from out of the ground, a remnant of the last crop. Of what my great-grandparents had built, only the big house remained and it was a part of the remnant of what had at one time been a thriving farm in Cottonwood, Georgia.
I blinked several times and brushed away those memories of life. There was too much heartache in the moment to allow myself to remain within them. Now was a time to reflect on death and dying. I could sit here and commiserate, and no one would be the wiser as to the depths I was falling.
What readers are saying about Things Left Unspoken
“What a lovely and deeply moving story Eva Marie Everson offers us in Things Left Unspoken. Her beautiful prose is a gateway into a world of small towns, family secrets and lost loves, with places and characters so real, you forget you’re reading fiction. In fact, I didn’t just read this story, I lived it! And I won’t soon forget the treasures gathered on the journey.”
—Ann Tatlock, award-winning author of The Returning
“In Things Left Unspoken, we are granted a front row seat to a generational love story that unfolds like a rare flower, filling our senses with wonder and imparting truth that when love is the foundation, anything can be restored.” —Allison Bottke, author of A Stitch in Time
“A true southern novel from a true southern novelist. Things Left Unspoken is rich with humor and love.” —DiAnn Mills, author of Breach of Trust
“What a fine, fine book, full of insight, wonderful characters, and complex situations. Southern in the best tradition. A thoughtful discussion of what real love is and what we do because we love.”
—Gayle Roper, author of Fatal Deduction
“Everson writes from the heart of the South. In Things Left Unspoken, she wonderfully portrays the intricacies of small town families with their darkest secrets and deepest bonds. From the first line, she engages the reader in Jo-Lynn’s quest for a place to belong by gently unraveling a tale of tragic history, enduring love, and unexpected intrigue. This is a splendid book by one of the South’s best contemporary authors.”
—Ramona Richards, author of The Taking of Carly Bradford and The Face of Deceit
“Everson delivers a story that is powerful, heart wrenching, and thought-provoking. It is a story of restoration, not only of a house and town, but of innermost parts of a human being.”
—Yvonne Lehman, author, founder of Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference
