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Simple Gift
Karyn Witmer
Reviewed by Barb Radmore
Avery and Mike have worked hard their whole married lives to form the perfect couple. Their daughter Fiona was the welcome addition to create an ideal family. She is close with both her parents, sharing her day to day life with her mom and hours with her father in the amateur observatory they built together. It is the life they always dream, the one they both wanted after their own difficult childhoods. But all their dreams are shattered when Fiona runs away with her boyfriend and their rock band. It seems irretrievably broken when after a year and a half, not even knowing she has returned, her parents run into her working at an area grocery store.
Avery's business takes off with an unexpected order for 50,000 of one of her stuffed animals. She must cope with the business details, her aristocratic mother, and her stubborn husband. While Avery tries to build a tenuous relationship with her daughter, Mike is too hurt to even consider reuniting with his daughter. This fissure causes a break in Mike and Avery's marriage as neither can accept the other's point of view. Mike moves to the family farm to support his alcoholic brother and brood within the observatory that reminds him so much of the good times.
Karyn Witmer has written a story of the depth of family love, both that between husband and wife and between parents and children. It also examines the relationship between husband and wife as a separate relationship from family. It is a difficult concept for many couples, an important part of themselves that needs acceptance and nurturing. She includes two love scenes of Avery and Mike that highlight the love, boht emotional and physical, that continues to exist between couples of all ages. By interweaving the stories of previous generations with the events of the present, Witmer portrays the effects of the past on the relationships of the future. It is a book of acceptance, forgiveness and the meaning of family.
It is not a surprise to learn that this book is being issued in paperback in September 2006. It should coincide with Christmas reading lists and will be a wonderful addition to holiday reading. The Simple Gift will start new holiday traditions in many families for years to come.
Karyn Witmer also writes historical novels under the name Elizabeth Grayson.
Karyn Witmer
Reviewed by Barb Radmore
Avery and Mike have worked hard their whole married lives to form the perfect couple. Their daughter Fiona was the welcome addition to create an ideal family. She is close with both her parents, sharing her day to day life with her mom and hours with her father in the amateur observatory they built together. It is the life they always dream, the one they both wanted after their own difficult childhoods. But all their dreams are shattered when Fiona runs away with her boyfriend and their rock band. It seems irretrievably broken when after a year and a half, not even knowing she has returned, her parents run into her working at an area grocery store.
Avery's business takes off with an unexpected order for 50,000 of one of her stuffed animals. She must cope with the business details, her aristocratic mother, and her stubborn husband. While Avery tries to build a tenuous relationship with her daughter, Mike is too hurt to even consider reuniting with his daughter. This fissure causes a break in Mike and Avery's marriage as neither can accept the other's point of view. Mike moves to the family farm to support his alcoholic brother and brood within the observatory that reminds him so much of the good times.
Karyn Witmer has written a story of the depth of family love, both that between husband and wife and between parents and children. It also examines the relationship between husband and wife as a separate relationship from family. It is a difficult concept for many couples, an important part of themselves that needs acceptance and nurturing. She includes two love scenes of Avery and Mike that highlight the love, boht emotional and physical, that continues to exist between couples of all ages. By interweaving the stories of previous generations with the events of the present, Witmer portrays the effects of the past on the relationships of the future. It is a book of acceptance, forgiveness and the meaning of family.
It is not a surprise to learn that this book is being issued in paperback in September 2006. It should coincide with Christmas reading lists and will be a wonderful addition to holiday reading. The Simple Gift will start new holiday traditions in many families for years to come.
Karyn Witmer also writes historical novels under the name Elizabeth Grayson.
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