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“But once we rid ourselves of something, we can no longer get it back … We think we can re-create everything, but we can’t.”
The Heirloom Garden is populated with intricately drawn characters that embed themselves in your heart and draw you inexorably into the tapestry that is their lives. Tears fall for Iris, as they fall for Abby; for what might have been, indeed what SHOULD have been, but for the fickleness of war. But smiles will fill your heart as well.
The juxtaposition of the two main characters, who, though decades apart in age, share an eerily similar story of what draws you into this story right from the start. A story that is told with compassion and empathy, yet does not hold back from shining an insightful light on the harsh realities of our times.
Shipman’s narrative is heart wrenching while allowing us to see glimmers of hope woven amid the threads like shiny gold filaments. Healing is written between the rows of The Heirloom Garden; Shipman is masterful at sowing hope and casting sunlight where it’s needed most.
Read this one knowing that you will come away changed.
PS – have tissues handy!
Roxx Is Reading 