Review–The Rhythm of Secrets

The Rhythm of Secrets
by Patti Lacy
Kregel Publications
332 pages

About the book: Since 1955, Sheila Franklin, a talented musician, has perfectly performed the role of devout pastor’s wife, locking away her past as Sheba Alexander and Sylvia Allen. Her carefully constructed façade crumbles with a single phone call from a young Marine named Samuel, the illegitimate son she secretly put up for adoption. Samuel begs Sheila to use her government contacts to get his fiancé, Mali, a Thai prostitute, into America. A dangerous mixture of love and guilt spurs her to help her only child even though it devastates her husband Edward and exposes her questionable past. After a quarrel with Edward, Sheila and Samuel board a C-130 for Thailand and then search Bangkok’s steamy streets for a Madonna-faced prostitute. The two whisk Mali from a brothel but are seized by a warlord who considers Mali his “number one girl.” In a teak “ghost house,” Sheila discovers God’s grace and gains the freedom she needs to find her own identity—Sheila, Sylvia, and Sheba. A framed story, this novel has roots in the bohemian 1940s New Orleans French Quarter and spans three decades, including the turbulent Vietnam era.

About Patti: Baylor graduate, taught community college humanities until God called her to span seas and secrets in her novels, An Irishwoman's Tale and What the Bayou Saw. She has two grown children and a dog named Laura. She and her husband can be seen jog-walking the streets of Normal, Illinois, an amazing place to live for a woman born in a car. For more information, visit Patti's website at www.pattilacy.com, her blog at www.pattilacy.com/blog, and her Facebook daily Artbites.

My Review: The opening pages of this book drew me in and held on.  Sheila Franklin’s carefully constructed life, completely built upon a secret (a lie?), comes down around her in the space of one phone call. When she hears the voice of her now grown son, the one she had given up for adoption when he was born, it sends her thoughts back to her past.

The book is told from her perspective and goes back and forth between the past and present.  We learn why the son contacted her and also what transpired in her life to force her to give him up for adoption.  All this leads up to the exciting final chapters, where in the midst of the events I found her faith thoughts so inspiring.  During some highly frightening times Sheila was about to hold on to her faith to get through.

This is the first book I’ve read by Patti Lacy, but her writing style is such that I will now happily search out her other books. My only “complaint” is that I read this book so quickly and wanted more!  Easily a favorite book of this year.

 

Thank you to Litfuse Publicity Group for providing a review copy for me to read and post my honest opinion about.  If you’d like to see other reviews, follow the blog tour!