4 out of 4 stars
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It’s the sound of nature. It’s rushing, gushing, gurgling of the stream, the trill of birds and the sound of animals scurrying through the woods. When you stop and listen, the combination of sounds lulls you into, into….well, a different place. Somewhere beyond thinking. You become one with perfect rhythm of life and the song of your spirit. That’s Heartsong.
Heartsong by Geri O’Neill is a book of love and forgiveness. It all starts in 1970, when a scandal rocks a small town called Glendon Lake. The wealthy summer community dissolves overnight and leaves the town in a downward spiral. After several years, Devon Wells, a beautiful stranger with an untraceable past comes into town, making the town people suspicious. The town instantly starts hating Devon Wells without ever meeting or talking to her, except Ben Chapman, a lifelong bachelor, who sees her as a lifeline out of the guilt the whole town is suffering from.
Devon Wells is completely oblivious to the town's hostility towards her and, Ben Chapman also tries to keep her away from the town and life surrounding Glendon Lake. They keep to their own small world outside the town and both are happy with it. But as Ben gets to know Devon, he becomes aware of Devon’s strange condition where she splits her mind, which causes her to shift from the real world to a fantasy world of her own - a world where nobody is bad and everything is perfect. As time passes and they talk, Devon’s interest rises in the town and its history, so Ben recounts the history of Glendon Lake and its summer people and what destroyed the town of Glendon Lake.
But the biggest question still remains - why did Devon Wells decide to come and reside in an isolated town?
The story goes on over how a mind can divide itself and how it can be healed. It makes you question your own reality and an alternate universe. It makes you question whether past and present, this life and the next are all different, or united and entwined with each other. It is mainly about love and its power - its power to heal and unite even in the most extreme of conditions; the power of love that makes you forgive even the worst of crimes.
I give Heartsong by Geri O’Neill a 4 out of 4. The book is quite slow in the first half but it picks up its pace somewhere around the second half. It is beautifully written and captures you immediately. I really had a difficult time putting it down and would surely recommend it to others. The author, slowly and gradually, lets you like his characters and get attached to them.The characters drawn are interesting and blend in beautifully.The authors writing makes the reading much more fun and effortless. The story line is quite simple, yet beautifully drawn. The author introduces some very beautiful thoughts which can be embraced in life and should be given a thought, like, “Honesty is in the way you live not what you do; in the reason you speak, not the words spoken.”
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Heartsong
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