Publication date 3/2/20.IF FOR ANY REASON by COURTNEY WALSH is a "double romance" novel, beautifully written, poignantly sad in parts, but full of hope throughout.
Emily Ackerman comes to Nantucket in order to repair her grandparents' holiday home, which her grandfather has left to her. She was largely brought up by her grandparents, who gave her and her mother, Isabelle, all that money and prestige could provide.
There is something very mysterious about her mother's death in a car accident, and Emily is determined to find out the truth. Life changed for her that day when her grandparents whisked her off the island, never to return.
Emily has never settled down. She has a collection of letters her mother wrote her when she was growing up, which she has clung to, believing all that her mother has written and trying to fulfill her mother's dreams. After a successful career as a child star on television and appearing on Broadway, she makes some foolish decisions and arrives on the island broke.
Hollis McGuire and Emily come from opposite ends of the social scale, but they were childhood friends. When he arrives on the island with his daughter, Jolie, he is a broken man who is trying to get to know the twelve year old who he has largely neglected, also due to some bad decisions. Emily feels strongly about this, as she has never known who her father was and thinks that he never wanted her, running away when he found out her mother was pregnant.
We see snobbery at its worst with the country club set, of whom the Ackermans are virtually the king and queen, who treat the McGuires and JD as lesser human beings. We see both Isabelle, and then, Emily bucking the system and wanting to live a normal life with normal people as friends.
We see how Jolie's hero worship of Emily and her longing to act restores Emily's love for the theatre.
I do not want to tell you any more except to say that relationships play a huge role in this book, and the author's understanding of human nature shines right through. It is a story of second chances as we see how the Lord takes hurting people, making them whole, often through the ministrations of other broken people.
It is altogether a lovely book, with a strong Christian message and a really good story, and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
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