I've given it or suggested it to almost everyone I know and they have equally enjoyed it.
Quick story on how I came to read this book:
As you know I work at a bookstore. When this book first came out, as I was placing it on the shelf, I dropped one book and it fell open to the back cover. Glued to the back cover was a simple little envelope with a handwritten letter on the inside. My curiosity peeked, as I had never seen this before, I took out the letter and the greeting read, Dear Rain.
"OMG!" I thought, "Someone has written a message for me, and placed it in the back of this book. (Conceded much?) Alas, the letter was not written to me, but instead one of the characters in the book. But since I was already interested, I wanted to see what the book was about.
The story is based on a man and woman who die together in their bed one evening. (Don't worry, I didn't spoil the ending. You find this out during the first chapter. It seems that all through their marriage, the husband has written his wife a letter, every Wednesday since the first week as man and wife. Years later, after their parents death, their children return to their childhood home to bury their parents and find these letters. In reading them, they discover the life and love that their parents shared, while struggling to overcome their own skeletons. During this journey, the uncover a dark family secret that the parents kept from them. But just as the secret is revealed, an even bigger one is unleashed, that threatens to break their familial ties.
Intrigued? So was I. One of the best stories I've read. It really gets you thinking about your own family and the relationship you share with them. A must read!
From the publisher: In the wake of his bestselling Christmas Jars comes a sweetly crafted story from Wright, a Virginia businessman. Jack and Laurel Cooper are two hardworking, loving Christian pillars of the community who die in each other's arms one night in the bed-and-breakfast that they own and operate. The event calls their three grown children home for the funeral, including their youngest son, a fugitive from the law who must face an outstanding warrant for his arrest and confront his one true love, now engaged to another man. As events unfold around the funeral, the three children discover a treasure trove of family history in the form of Wednesday letters-notes that Jack wrote to his wife every single week of their married lives. As they read, the children brush across the fabric of a devoted marriage that survived a devastating event kept secret all these years. It's a lovely story: heartening, wholesome, humorous, suspenseful and redemptive. It resonates with the true meaning of family and the life-healing power of forgiveness all wrapped up in a satisfying ending.
Rating: 4 out of 5*****
