4 out of 4 stars
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Samyann calls her novel Yesterday, a Novel of Reincarnation. She provides us with many outstanding characters, two of which are Amanda, and her godmother, psychotherapist, landlady and Aunt, Mary Axelrod. Unfortunately, Amanda has had many people close to her, die, and the resulting trauma makes her shy away from relationships in case it should happen again.
Fate or not, karma or not, Amanda is witness to an overhead rail accident. A Chicago Police Department officer is unmounted, and Amanda saves the policeman’s life by pushing him to safety into an antique store. Amanda is hurt and hospitalized. She and the policeman Mark Callahan both have a persistent feeling that they have met before. Mark is intrigued by Amanda’s blue eyes, and Amanda thinks Mark is handsome, she is drawn to him but is so afraid of being a bad-luck Jonah.
Samyann uses an artifact to connect the story. An antique grandfather clock provides a link back to the Civil War. Look out for some pleasing to the ear moments as Samyann describes the clock at various times during the story. In Chapter 1, when Amanda is carried into the Lexington Antique Shop and laid on a sofa while waiting for the ambulance: "A tall grandfather clock came into focus... her eyes were drawn to the pendulum’s rhythmic movement and her vision clouded. As blackness enveloped her, Amanda drifted into a distant tick…tick…tick…tick." Samyann has set the scene for a compelling story.
The story is woven through the conversations Amanda has with Mary, Mark, and others, and we perceive the unspoken comments going on in Amanda’s head. Mark murmurs sweet nothings in Gaelic. We hear the conversations and begin putting two and two together, but we sometimes make four and sometimes five, that is the elegant art of the storyteller.
Samyann weaves an intriguing story that provides clues about Amanda and Mark’s relationship at an earlier time. The story easily encompasses some Chicago history. The story unfolds with clues to be solved by Amanda and Mark. The grandfather clock was damaged in the Great Chicago Fire. The chimes of the clock are St. Michael’s Chimes which take us back to St. Michaels’s Church in Charleston, South Carolina, during the Civil War.
Samyann’s characters are authentic. We could easily imagine ourselves being Amanda, such a sassy girl, full of life, but quite wounded. Or we could be the ubiquitous Aunt Mary who cares deeply for Amanda and would do anything to support her. Amanda or her godmother provide us with some hilarious old sayings. When Amanda is asked how she is feeling, she says, “As my godmother would say, good enough to walk a barbed wire fence with a wildcat under each arm.” We warm to these characters and the ancestors that Samyann has imagined for us during the Civil War. From the opening chapter, I was entranced and sorry to come to the end.
I rate Yesterday 4 out of 4 stars, for its wholesome, good-hearted characters and its interwoven themes. If we do not believe in reincarnation, we are left wishing we did. I do not rate it 3 out of 4 stars because the writing is excellent and I hear the tick…tick…tick throughout. I recommend this novel to a broad audience to enjoy an entertaining story, some Chicago history, and some Civil War excitement. Anyone could read it and enjoy the experience.
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Yesterday
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