“Well honey, you can’t sweep the nasty up under the rug and believe that it’s not there. All that does is leave a big lump under the carpet.” (p. 170)
Things Left Unspoken is a novel about the nasty things swept under the rug of three generations of Jo-Lynn Hunter’s family. Little did she imagine, while sitting at her great-uncle’s funeral that her life was soon to undergo many significant changes. However, when her great-aunt Stella informs her that the entire town of Cottonwood, Georgia is about to undergo renovation, Jo-Lynn begins to see the tip of a very large ice-burg of life-altering circumstances.
Jo-Lynn’s personal life has already run amuck upon the commonly referred to problem of “mid-life crisis before she ever agrees to remodel her great-aunt’s home. When her husband shows up in her home-town to bid on the renovation project, Jo-Lynn’s heart is slammed against even more unanticipated change. In fact, after several unusual and disturbing incidences revolving around the home of her childhood, it seems that nothing will ever be normal again.
Eva Marie Everson has completely captured the essence of the South in Things Left Unspoken. As a life-long native of Georgia and now a resident of Alabama, I promise you she has NAILED many Southern behaviors COLD! Sweet iced tea when it’s freezing outside, enough food at a funeral to feed the family for a year, the difference between dinner and supper…I could go on and on! And here’s the line that assured me she was also native to the South – on page 307 Jo-Lynn’s mother says: “Well, I really do abhor gossip. Now do you want to know about the Pitney’s or not?” Southerners can so politely disguise their impoliteness….it’s ridiculous!! Have mercy!!
As endearing as the accurate portrayal of Southern culture was to me personally, I will tell you that Eva Marie Everson also captured much about the dark side of Southern gentility, and that would be the two-sided racism that burns in many lives to this very day. The characters in this story are so bound by their polite, secretive ways that they don’t even recognize the evil that it has perpetuated for so many generations. This part of the story was also accurate and an unexpected plot twist that fit beautifully with all of the other restoration going on in Cottonwood!
Things Left Unspoken is a real work of art. The pace and the prose of the story sets off the Southern culture perfectly. Amid all of the generations of secrets that must be mined in this story, God’s redeeming love shines through, and the grace He offers each of us, no matter our secrets, is there amid the story…making it shine! Bravo, Mrs. Everson! BRAVO!!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Eva Marie Everson is the author of 20 books, including 2 novel series and the groundbreaking Sex, Lies, and the Media, which she coauthored with her daughter Jessica. In 2002, Eva Marie wrote the acclaimed series Falling Into the Bible for Crosswalk.com. A frequent conference speaker, Eva Marie has been the subject of numerous radio and television programs, magazine articles, and e-zine articles.
1 comment:
Excellent review, as always! I liked this book.
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