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BOOK REVIEW: The Oak Leaves
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by: Laura V. Hilton Dancing Word Reviewer
Title: The Oak Leaves Author: Maureen Lang Publisher: Tyndale Fiction ISBN: 978-1-4143-1345-9 Genre: Inspirational/Women/Fiction
Talie Ingram has the perfect life. Her husband, Luke is successful and devoted. She has a beautiful one year old son, Ben, and another child on the way. But Talie’s world is shattered when she receives an ancestor’s journal, and learns a shocking family secret.
Cosima Escott is cursed. As is her mother. They carry something that makes their sons turn out to be half-wits. No one in Ireland will marry Cosima, so she’s resigned to singleness when a wealthy Englishman asks for her hand in marriage. Cosima tries to talk him out of it, but he won’t listen.
Talie is horrified when she reads Cosima’s journal, and then she starts seeing the differences in her own son. Will Talie be able to find comfort in Cosima’s journal and learn to accept the legacy?
The Oak Leaves is written in both modern times and ancient Europe, telling the story of two different generations of women, but both affected by the same gene. It is a heart-breakingly beautiful story, simplistic in form, yet a story that will stay with the reader for a long time.
In many ways, I connected more with the ancient Cosima, than with the more modern Talie, but both are realistically developed. I couldn’t put this book down. I had to find out what happened—mostly in Cosima’s life. Based on events in the author’s own life, the story is sure to touch mothers of “different” children, as well as mothers of “normal” children. Don’t miss The Oak Leaves. Discussion questions are included at the end of the book. $12.99. 401 pages.
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