Theodora Grace Overman, aka
"Teddi," always loved restoring old furniture. As a teenager, this
farm girl with a big dream rebelled against her mother's push for secretarial
school and ran away from her rural Kentucky home, setting off to Charleston,
South Carolina where she eventually opens a shop dedicated to the refurbishing of
antiques.
"...Old
furniture speaks to me," says Teddi. "The older it is, the more it
has to say." Such is the case with Teddi's life. In 1993, when the
workaholic finds herself successful but still single at the age of 36, she begins
to reflect on the lost years while trying to understand the people she left
behind: a mother who never understood her daughter's aspirations; a father who
returned from war a completely changed man; and an enigmatic younger brother, Josh,
whose love of nature and rescuing animals may have led to his mysterious
disappearance and a final letter he left behind that read, "Don't come looking
for me."
When Teddi's mother takes
ill, Teddi returns to her rural Kentucky home where strange occurrences begin
to emerge that indicate Josh might still be alive. Hoffman flashes back to events from Teddi's
childhood in the 1960s and 70s, delving into the haunted mysteries of the past
in order to shape the contours of these interconnected, yet sadly detached
lives. As in Hoffman's
debut novel, Saving
CeeCee Honeycutt, Southern wit, charm and down-home characters add
levity to this story of loss and broken hearts that are ultimately restored
with love, hope and remembering.
Pamela
Dorman Books, $27.95 Hardcover, 9780670025831,
368 pp
Publication Date: May 28, 2013
Note: This review is a reprint and is being
posted with the permission of Shelf
Awareness. To read this review on Shelf
Awareness: Reader's Edition (6/4/13),
click HERE