Ellie and the Harpmaker

A harp causes two lonely Brits, stalled by fate and the choices they've made in life, to forge a deep, life-changing friendship.

Ellie and the Harpmaker is a lyrically written, delightfully charming story about two strangers--lost souls--drifting through their lives, until a harp brings them together.

Ellie Jacobs is a lonely housewife living in Exmoor, England. She is married to Clive, a pragmatic, domineering man who goes to work every day and is obsessed with football and finance. One day, on a walk through the West English countryside, while reflecting upon the first anniversary of her beloved father's death, Ellie stumbles upon a place she's never seen before: the Harp Barn. There, she meets Dan Hollis, the "Exmoor Harpmaker." Dan takes utmost pride in his work. He also feels the experiences of life very deeply, but exhibits a limited range of expression.

When Ellie shares the special significance of the day with Dan--and how learning to play the harp is actually on her things to accomplish "before-forty list"--Dan kindly offers Ellie a gift: a harp beautifully carved out of red-gold cherrywood. Ellie is overwhelmed and thrilled by Dan's generosity, but her joy is dashed when she returns home and Clive demands she return the harp. Clive's will and Dan's will ultimately pull Ellie in opposite directions. This calls into question her beliefs about herself and her marriage, while also raising inquiries into the many mysteries of Dan's life.

By telling the story from two intimate points of view, debut novelist Hazel Prior allows readers to discover startling truths right along with her well-drawn characters. This approach heightens the narrative tension and allows this beautiful, tender story about the harmonious meaning of true friendship and love to reverberate with many unexpected surprises.

Ellie and the Harpmaker by Hazel Prior

Berkley, $26.99 Hardcover, 9781984803788, 336 pages 

Publication Date: August 6, 2019

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

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 (August 6, 2019), link HERE

Miss You

Two Brits keep missing each other--and their chance for true and lasting love--over the course of 16 years.

Two young Brits repeatedly meet by chance but chronically fail to connect in Kate Eberlen's captivating first novel, Miss You. Their circuitous journey starts in summer 1997, when Tess and her best friend are traveling after high school graduation. In Florence, they cross paths with Gus, also a recent high school grad, who is traveling with his parents after the tragic death of his brother, the favorite son. A simple search for gelato first brings Tess and Gus together, but their encounter is fleeting because he feels inhibited in the presence of his parents. They return separately to London, and Gus heads to university to study medicine. Meanwhile, Tess defers academia because her mother dies after a battle with cancer; Tess must assume the care of her five-year-old sister, Hope, who has Asperger syndrome. 

What ensues is a compelling story--told in alternating points-of-view--about the sense of responsibility and guilt inflicted upon both. Miss You maps Gus and Tess's crisscrossing journeys over 16 years. They briefly meet again at London coffee shops, a Rolling Stones concert in Glastonbury and when Gus's children get temporary tattoos at the salon Tess manages. Detours, distractions, sacrifices and bad choices lead to life-changing betrayals by friends and lovers. This episodic, detail-rich narrative breeds suspense as readers grow eager to learn if fate will ever allow these two lost souls--who often feel trapped by the elusive nature of love and happiness--finally to find each other.  

Miss You: A Novel by Kate Eberlen

Harper, $25.99 Hardcover, 9780062460226, 448 pages

Publication Date: April 4, 2017

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE

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 (April 28, 2017), link HERE. 

Almost Perfect

Is it ever too late to dream? Author Diane Daniels Manning explores the implications in Almost Perfect, a touching novel about an older woman who feels her time has passed and a 14 year-old boy, with mild autism, whose dogged determination demonstrates how one is never too old—or limited—to continue to have goals and aspirations. 

The story begins as Elizabeth "Bess" Rutledge has all but given up her livelihood, serving as one of America's top breeders of Standard Poodles, and her dreams of someday winning Westminster, the premiere dog show in all the world. Bess closes up her once-famous kennel, "Umpawaug," located in rural Connecticut and keeps only two dogs: McCreery, one of her aging champions, and his rambunctious, handsome son, Breaker.

At the same time, Benny, a lonely boy who lives nearby—unhappily, with his neglectful father and stepmother and a distant mother whose affection Benny fervently craves—longs to have a dog to keep him company. When the boy with "curly, reddish hair and baby smooth cheeks" accidentally discovers Umpawaug Kennel and meets and falls in love with McCreery and Breaker, his desire to have a dog grows even stronger. His father remains adamant against the prospect. But when Benny learns of Bess's history with dog shows, he decides that if he can learn to become a dog handler and ultimately show Bess's champions at Westminster, he might finally win the attention of his self-centered mother.

Set-in-her-ways, headstrong Bess initially resists Benny's proposition. But with Benny's relentless prodding and determination—along with the encouraging support of Bess's sister, son and a counselor from the special school Benny attends—Bess softens and an unlikely partnership-mentorship forms. 

Can these two, vastly different people help each other fulfill their respective dreams? Can Bess really put her faith in Benny? Is he capable of becoming a dog handler and facing the stresses of learning how to show Bess's beloved poodles?   

Diane Daniels Manning has crafted a sensitive, hope-filled story about a friendship that slowly blooms in and out of dog show arenas, while also offering a behind-the-scenes glimpse inside the suspenseful world of show-dog competition. McCreery and Breaker may be at the heart of this moving novel, but they also serve the larger theme of how dogs and canine companions often bring unlikely people together, forming life-changing bonds that can resurrect and heal the human spirit.

Almost Perfect (a novel) by Diane Daniels Manning

Beltor,  $9.99 paperback, 9780578136394 , 342 pp

Publication Date: January 29, 2014

To order this book via AMAZON link HERE

Note: Up to 100% of the author's profits will be donated to charities serving animals and children. Visit the author's website (www.diandanielsmanning.com) to learn more