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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Book Review - HIDDEN IN THE HEART by Catherine West



Hidden in the Heart

If you have been adopted or have adopted or are thinking of adoption, this is the novel for you.

It's too much for one woman to take. Her mother has died, and she has miscarried. Claire doesn't know if there's something in her genes has caused the loss of the child. Prayer isn't in her vocabulary. It seems only logical that she should seek oblivion in alcohol and pills.

Not so obvious for her distressed husband, James, or her father, or her best friend. James tries to go to AA. Her father discourages her efforts to find her birth mother. Her best friend is afraid Claire is going over the edge. Depression settles in, and she finds another bar.

In a morning of clarity, she visits the Department of Children and Families and begins the process to find her birth mother. She knows it will make her father even more anxious--but he'll get over it. He has a new love since her mother died.

When the Department informs her her birth mother has refused the contact or even medical information, she snoops in her father's office and finds a name and a brochure for a lodge. Loading a suitcase and a case of her father's best wine into her car, she heads for Maine and her future.

Hidden in the Heart and other books by Catherine West can be found at Christianbook.com, Amazon.com, and Barnesandnobel.com. To find a place to purchase her books, click on your favorite store name; to get better acquainted with the author, click on her name AND come back to this blog tomorrow to catch our interview with her.

Catherine West provided this book to me free of charge with the hope of receiving a review; no restrictions were made as to whether the review had to be positive, negative, or even required.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now I want to know how the story ends. Looks like another good one. Thank you and Blessings, Susan Fryman

Anne Baxter Campbell said...

Susan--
That's why God invented wish lists!
God bless!
Anne

beth willis miller's blog said...

Ann, As a fellow adoptee, Catherine West had me with the tag line on the front cover of "Hidden in the Heart"—"You existed before you were adopted." I love the way Catherine has woven an intricate fiction story based loosely on her own adoption life experiences. The characters are so vivid and well-written, I keep hoping she writes a sequel so I can find out what happens next! This novel reinforces my belief in the sovereignty of God, that nothing comes into my life that is not filtered through God's hands of love—there are no “accidents.” As the characters in this novel discover, it gives me great peace to know that God planned who my birth parents would be and who my Mom and Dad would be, and both influences, plus His, are needed to help me become all that He created me to be.

Anne Baxter Campbell said...

Yes--her book is filled with her own heartaches and strivings. God bless her for putting her own vulnerability out there to bless others!