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Book Review By Sandra Calhoune
Susannah's Garden by Debbie Macomber

Fifty year old Susannah Nelson is a Seattle schoolteacher with two kids and a loving husband, Joe. When Susannah discovers that her recently widowed mother Vivian Leary is experiencing memory problems and having "visions" of her deceased husband George, Susannah heads back to her hometown of Colville, Washington. Susannah makes the decision to help her elderly mother and to research assisted living facilities in the area. Susannah has also been having dreams of her high school love Jake and fantasizing about his whereabouts. Although happily married, Susannah has questions about the end of her romance with Jake. Susannah has long suspected that her father was involved in Jake's breaking up with her and leaving Colville. The summer Susannah turned seventeen her boyfriend Jake wanted Susannah to run away with him and get married. Susannah resisted the plan to elope and the next day her parents sent her to France for several months. During this time her older brother Dough died in a car crash. Susannah never gorgave her father for not allowing her to return from France in order to attend her brother's funeral. Shortly after her brother's death, Susannah received another blow when Jake broke up with her and left town. Susannah has unresolved issues surrounding her father's death and her belief that her father never loved her. As Susannah moves her mother into an assisted living center, she begins the process of cleaning out her parents' home. Susannah is shocked when she stumbles upon a dated check from 1973 made out to Jake's father for $5,000. Along with the check is a letter showing that Jake and his family received the money in exchange for leaving Colville. Now, Susannah is more determined than ever to find Jake and uncover the truth about the past. As Susannah gets closer and closer to the truth, she discovers a shocking secret from the past.


Plot & Themes
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 2000+ (Present Day)
Family, caring for ill Yes
Who is sick? - Mother
because he/she is - basically "out of it"
Internal struggle/realization? Yes
Struggle over
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - 40's-50's
Ethnicity/Nationality

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - long-lived adults
Profession/status:
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Very much smarter than other characters

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 6 ()
United States Yes
The US: - Pacific NW

Writing Style
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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