The Hermit of Chappaquiddick

by Steven Raichlen

From New York Times bestselling author Steven Raichlen comes a surprising story of love, loss, redemption, and, of course, really good food.

Claire Doheney, recovering from a serious illness, agrees to house-sit in an oceanfront mansion on Chappaquiddick island in Martha's Vineyard. The New York book editor hopes to find solace, strength, and sufficient calm to finish her biography of the iconoclastic psychotherapist, Wilhelm Reich.

The last thing she expects to find is love.Then she meets a mysterious man the locals call the Hermit. No one knows his real name or where he lives. To their mutual surprise, Claire and the stranger discover that they share a passion for cooking that soon sparks something more.But Claire's new friend has a terrible secret that threatens to drive them apart forever. The clock is ticking. Can Claire let love into her life once more before it's too late?Retitled from the 2012 novel, Island Apart, and now including a bonus chapter exclusive to the new edition!

A sweet grown-up love story. A beach book for smart people.- Booklist

AUTHOR'S NOTE: One of the strangest things about being an author is that you don’t always get to choose the title of your own book. I originally called this novel The Hermit of Chappaquiddick (after its main character). The publisher insisted on the blander Island Apart. So for this new Kindle edition, I went back to my original title. Same story of love, loss, redemption, and really good food. Better title. Plus a bonus chapter that didn’t make it into the original book. The Hermit of Chappaquiddick. The author finally gets the title he wanted!

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Audiobook, Chick Lit, Drama, Beach Reads, Contemporary

236 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

Steven Raichlen is a multi-award winning writer, television host, and novelist. His books include the international blockbusters The Barbecue Bible, How To Grill, Project Smoke, and the New York Times bestselling Planet Barbecue. His novel, The Hermit of Chappaquiddick, tells a story of love, loss, redemption and really good food set on Martha's Vineyard. Translated into 17 languages, Raichlen's books have won 5 James Beard Awards and 3 IACP-Julia Child Awards and have sold more than 5 million copies. Raichlen also hosts the popular TV shows, Project Smoke and Project Fire on PBS; Steven Raichlen Grills Italy in Italy; and Le Maitre du Grill in Quebec. He lives and writes in Coconut Grove, Florida, and on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. His websites are stevenraichlen.com and barbecuebible.com

Reviews

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Island Apart
By
Steven Raichlen

My " in a nutshell" summary...

Claire goes to Martha's Vineyard to recover from a very serious illness...she meets the Chappaquiddick  hermit...entanglements ensue!

My thoughts after reading this book...

Heaven on earth...that describes this one.  Who knew the barbecue king...this author...had this kind of story telling in him?
I loved every single lovely sentence.  The island descriptions, daily life on the island, the food, the books, the locals...sigh...yum...so pleasurable!
I was caught up in this story with the first few pages I read.  There are sweet delightful characters and serious characters and quirky characters and all of them are caught up in life on the island.  And...all of them are involved with the lovely Claire.  The food descriptions alone will capture you, seriously.  Foraged, organic, divine dinners and desserts are a huge part of Claire's life and the Hermit's.  This book is a story of healing and it unfolded beautifully.

What I loved the most...

The budding relationship between Claire and the Hermit...their exchanges...their notes...their love for real food.  I loved the fact that underneath all of the flannel and fuzz...the Hermit was a true hunk!  I also loved the way the "juicy bits" in the story were shared...this is no Fifty Shades...it is sweet and lovely!  I loved Wrench...Claire's daughter's boyfriend...he was priceless!

What I did not love...

I did not love the way everyone other than Claire treated the Hermit...sad.
I did not love the fate of the poor whale or the lobsters...lol.  I didn't really like Claire's daughter at the beginning, either.  Nor was I fond of her lecherous almost ex husband.  He was sleazy...seriously so.

My final thoughts...

Oh my...I laughed...I cried...but I ultimately loved this novel!  I truly think that you will, too!

[Meg - A Bookish Affair · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5. This book is amazing! Let me just give you a little taste of what you're in for with this book:

"We're all wounded in some way," he said. "It's not what you have that makes you beautiful. It's what you've lost and still managed to go on living without."

How perfect is that quote? You may want to read it right now and that's okay. But there's more! This book really has a little bit of something for everyone. There's great characters (the two main characters, Claire and the Hermit, are heartbreaking and wonderful and so real). I really, really loved these characters. They're so tragic in their own way and they come together for something really beautiful. There's food! Claire and the Hermit are both wonderful cooks and make things that make you want to lick the pages just so you might get the tiniest taste of what they're cooking. There's a good love story with a great lesson. There's a mystery! See, there's really a little bit of something for everyone.

There's also a great setting. Chappaquiddick is where it's set, which before this book was only known to me as the place where Ted Kennedy had that car accident which killed a young woman. Fun fact: I have a newspaper front page from when Apollo 11 landed on the moon, which happened to be right around when Kennedy had the accident so there is a story on the same front page about that. Kind of creepy, no? Anyhow, what I love about the setting is that from the way that it is written about, you can tell that the author really knows the place. He does a great job of making it come alive.

Now I loved the story but there were a couple things that I didn't get about the story. I don't want to give anything away (you all still really, really need to read this book). First, why didn't Claire do something besides mope when she found on the big twist? I thought that she would take more action. Why didn't Sylvie try to make amends? Would you really send a letter like that? I didn't fully understand the motivations behind the characters, which took me out of the story a little bit.

That being said, this book is still pretty fabulous. This is the book that you get lost in. It's the one where you make sure you have a ton of time to devote to it because you know that you aren't going to want to stop reading it for awhile.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book so much more than I actually did. There are enough detailed reviews of the plot that I won't do it again here, I'll just summarize my main issues:

- The author really has an awkward narrative style. It jumps from essentially lecturing about historical facts to a paragraph about the book's protagonists, and back to history again. This could happen for half a dozen paragraphs -- back and forth, with seemingly no correlation between the two. Eventually it would become clear why he chose this particular spot to insert this historical background but the manner of introducing was so heavy-handed, and the sheer volume of content was overkill. If I wanted to read a biography of Reich I would. Here, I wanted to read a relationship novel.

- The details of Chappaquiddick Island were nice and displayed the author's obvious familiarity with the place, which I suppose was the intent. But honestly, other than a passing mention there was no reason to go into repeated detail of the Ted Kennedy accident. It was really just filler, and had nothing to do with the book at all. It was like a weird kind of name-dropping, for lack of a better way to describe it.

- Other than Claire and the Hermit, NONE of the characters were fleshed-out. The way they were described was so one-note -- Claire's daughter was a rebel, and such a stereotypical one at that; the Reich author was an eccentric; the ex-husband was a philanderer. There was absolutely nothing unexpected about these characters and worse, they had no depth. Really when you get down to it, even Claire and the Hermit were very lightly drawn. Claire battled cancer but we really never saw how she struggled, what she feared, how she hurt. The Hermit was isolated but we never felt his pain, saw his thoughts, understood his seclusion. As many reviewers have noted, the descriptions of food in this book are incredibly detailed. I wish that the same attention had been paid to the characters.

- It honestly just drove me nuts that the Hermit was called that throughout the whole book.

I really wanted to at least give this an "I Liked It", but the ending (which I see some previous reviewers have spoiled) stripped away any chance of that. I don't need all my endings to be happy but I do need some kind of an emotional payoff, and I personally didn't get it.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

ISLAND APART has been on my wish list since last year, and when I saw the audiobook at the library, I snatched it up. The cover screams “light beach read,” but I was thrilled to discover that it went much deeper. Colorful characters, a magnificent setting, and an unusual love story made this book a memorable read. Oh, and the food! I can’t forget the delectable descriptions of dishes that kept me drooling page after page.

Claire is a likable character and easy to sympathize with. She’s a smart, strong woman going through a very rough time in her life. She’s just divorced a deadbeat, cheating husband, she has a strained relationship with her college-age daughter, and she’s battling a serious illness. Claire’s closest friends offer her the use of their summer home on gorgeous Chappaquiddick Island while she recovers. Who would say no to that? Not me!

Not long after moving in, Claire meets a strange, reclusive man known as the Hermit. The way they met and how their relationship developed was so unique! (Here’s where all that scrumptious food comes in, but that’s all I’m going to say.) The Hermit has a tragic past of his own, which caused him to withdraw from society, that is until Claire comes into his life. When Claire discovers his secret, their fragile new relationship is threatened.

I enjoyed how the author wove the history and local lore of Chappaquiddick into the story, from the colonial days, to the tragedy on the bridge in 1969, through the island today. I consider myself an armchair traveler, and the rich descriptions of this place made me feel like a local.

ISLAND APART is a bittersweet tale I won’t soon forget. I got misty-eyed a few times, especially at the end. No man is an island…

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Susan Boyce. I enjoyed her performance. She captured Claire’s persona beautifully, and her male voices were good too.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Island Apart is a love story, cookbook, history lesson, gazetteer, and visit to the psychologist all rolled together. Add a dash of the literary publishing world and read slowly. This isn't a fast-paced book, but I read it in an evening. All the bits of and pieces Raichlen throws in tend to slow down the narrative which follows Claire and the Hermit.

Claire's getting a divorce from a philandering professor. Her daughter's an angry young adult with hair issues. Her mother's an Irish Catholic from Boston. Her best friend from college is a children's book author married to a best-selling psychologist with a house on Chappaquiddick that they let Claire use. Oh, and she got a cancer diagnosis the day her husband left her.

The Hermit just wants to be left alone. People are dangerous. He's perfected a look that allows him to be practically invisible. He's learned how to live on the island's natural offerings. He doesn't want to be involved, but when he finds Claire lying in the middle of the road unconscious, he picks her up and saves her life.

Claire wants to say thank you and thus begins a strange relationship that slowly develops through a shared love of cooking. But the Hermit's right. People are dangerous. Opening yourself to others means the chance of pain and loss, but also love.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written; I think "poignant" is the word. My problem was, I will never be able to afford any of those wines, and will never have any (ANY!) of the foods the author goes on about, and I hate shellfish. A lot of local history about the vinyard and island (cheers for Raichlen for his pointed comments on the politics involved in Kennedy skating on the death of Mary Jo Kopechne). I felt all the extra stuff, as well done as it was, got in the way of the story and the character development. A very pleasant story, and well done, but it left me a bit hungry...

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. This story line made me begin to tear up. There were a few times I'd get lost in flashbacks and need to listen again but overall, very good!

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really got lost in this story. MV being 1 of my favorite places, I could visualize certain scenes. I don't believe the author has written other Fiction.

[Bonnie Brody · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really surprised me. I found myself enjoying it a lot despite its being the type of book I don't usually read. It reads like a combination of the best of Nicholas Sparks, Jodi Picoult, Susan Shreve and Elizabeth Berg. it is a love story and a tragedy, a perfect beach or airplane read. It goes fast and catches the reader in its highly emotive telling.

The novel begins, "This is the story of a man who suffered great hurt and came to the island to find safety, seclusion and solace. It's also about a woman who lost nearly everything - only to find herself. This is the story of Claire and the Hermit of Chappaquiddick." The Hermit is a man rarely seen on the island. He never makes eye contact with others and tries to render himself invisible. Claire is a book editor recuperating from a rigorous trial of chemotherapy for breast cancer. Her close friends have a home on the island and loan it to her for the winter to do her editing work.

Claire is editing a biography of Wilhelm Reich, the maker of the Orgone box and the psychoanalyst behind orgone therapy. The novel goes into the story of Wilhelm Reich's life in great detail, too much detail as far as I'm concerned. Claire's husband has just left her. He lost his job at Barnard for having affairs with several students there and is now without work. He is trying to sue Claire for alimony. Claire's husband left her on the same day that she found out she had breast cancer. As the book starts, Claire is finishing up her rounds of chemotherapy for a very voracious cancer. She is trying to gain her strength and heal.

While riding her bike on the island, she gets into an accident and the hermit finds her unconscious on the side of the road. He picks her up and carries her two miles to the ferry so that she can get medical help. She is okay after a few days in the hospital and she wants to thank the hermit. So begins their story. She makes him some food and in return he makes some food for her. They are both fantastic cooks and communicate through their love of cooking. Gradually, they get to meet each other and a love affair ensues.

The story has a lot of information about the history of Martha's Vineyard and Chappaquidick, much more than is necessary. It almost seemed like filler to me. The meat of the story is the relationship between Claire and the hermit. One of them has a huge secret and the secret may be enough to ruin what looks like an idyllic relationship.

Claire is also dealing with her rebellious daughter Molly who has a multitude of piercings, tattoos, and wild hairdos. She brings home one loser boyfriend after another and Claire is at her wit's end about what to do about her daughter.

The story reads well except for many repetitions. Overall, I enjoyed it a lot and found myself almost weepy at times. As a breast cancer survivor, I get very emotional when I read about other women's struggles with this disease. The author does an excellent job portraying Claire's feelings about her body image, her fears and her hopes.

The hermit is a recluse who most likely is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. He is a marvelous cook and at one time was a famous New York foodie.

I recommend this book for a good beach or airplane read. It will keep you interested and turning the pages. It has all the necessary ingredients of a tragedy and a good love story.

[Julie Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

ISLAND APART by Steven Raichlen
ISBN: 9780765332387
Story of Ed and Claire. He lives on the island and everything he eats and uses is from the island. Nobody knows much about him as the tale goes on so he's known as the hermit.
Claire and her friend are summering at Sheilas house when Claire informs her that divorce from her husband and police charges against him make her not want to go back to NY. It's agreed she will stay on into the fall months to catch up on her reading for her publishing job and travel to Boston for chemo when needed.
Brings back memories of what it's like to live on the island where I grew up. Summer months and the island growing to 5times the population. Love the winter months the most where you get to learn about your neighbors and you barter with one another.
Love to hear of the history lesson as to the first inhabitants to the island.
The hermit travels the island on foot and we discover all the hidden treasures.
He found her on the beach knocked out after a bike accident and carried her miles to the ferry where ambulance was called. After she was better she would make food for him, breads, pies, etc and leave them just past the cemetery, he would arrive and get them and return the empty sack to her mailbox at the post office.
The ingredients used to make their lavish gifts came from the island where they probably were just a few feet from one another as they foraged for the fruits or nuts to make flour. Cooking and combination of what goes into a dish is just outstanding!
What Claire does is what I'd want to do, live on the island year round and read. And add in that Mary knits, I'd like to do that also. And being that it's on an island the smell of the ocean would be super.
Tender sex scenes are very loving and passionate. Like how they spend time investigating the island by car.
They each have secrets and the other finds out in time...
Medical and other studies cited are like a mystery solved.
Love and mysteries, nature scenes and island living got to me, priceless.

[Virginia Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Steven Raichlen offers a delicious slice of the pie that is Martha's Vineyard in "Island Apart". Both touching and tempting, with a poignant romance which celebrates the love of food and the fact that food is love, this book is a treat for the senses. Claire Doheney is a New York book editor whose life implodes with a series of devastating events--just as she learns she has breast cancer, her marriage ends through her husband's infidelity (which also cost him his career), and her relationship with her daughter disintegrates. Hoping to recover her health and equilibrium, Claire agrees to housesit a friend's estate on Chappaquiddick Island. Her plans are to finish her work on editing a biography of the famed psychotherapist, Wilhelm Reich, and to restore her peace of mind. She never expects that an accident will lead to her rescue by the island's most mysterious resident, "The Hermit". A culinary connection is made when Claire thanks The Hermit with a food gift, and he returns the gesture in kind. Thus begins a surprising, sweet and savory, succulent and satisfying love story between two wounded souls who deserve a second chance at happiness. The rich flavor of the writing comes not just from the food scenes, but also from the vivid depiction of the island itself, and from the joy to be found when you can share a true passion with another being. Food is not just a necessity for life, it is a sensory pleasure and a universal language. The area in which I live is full of antique shops, thrift stores, and second-hand shops–and there is always a treasure to be found! I collect books, cookbooks, and cookware, both old and new. I don’t really need more of any of those things, but reading and cooking are an essential part of my nature.

Review Copy Gratis Amazon Vine

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

4+++. It is a 5? Is it? Oh so close that I can't say.
Really enjoyed this book.
I love to learn, I love good writing. I love insightful writing. I like a good plot line. I love, love character development. I love a sense of optimism regardless of circumstances. I LOVE good food! I like hunky men who have a soft side.
I love the fact that the author put a murder mystery inside it all and solved it satisfactorily and made it fit in the plot. Bravo! And I like the shocker that the murder added to the story. Again, bravo!
I love that the main character succumbs to her illness but the story is beautiful and satisfying and uplifting anyway.
I love the irresistible draw between Claire and the Hermit.
I love Wrench!

And above all, the writing was just so very good and the vignettes of information I found to be appetizing, satisfying brain food.

Really. It must be a 5.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The break-up of her marriage and a diagnosis of breast cancer send Claire Doheney to Martha's Vineyard to try to figure out how to move on with her life. Her friends have left her alone in their house on Chappaquiddick Island at the end of the summer. She continues her editing work, a biography of an eccentric inventor which is being written by an eccentric writer, and wonders how to fix the broken relationship between herself and her only daughter. Though the tiny island is all but deserted, Claire finds people eddying in and out of her life like the tides. One of the people she comes to know is someone called The Hermit when he rescues her after a bicycle accident on a lonely road. No one else on the island seems to know him at all - who he is, where he comes from, what his story might be. Through their mutual love of cooking, these two solitary people forge a relationship. His story is nothing Claire could have ever imagined, and his secret is one that could destroy their fledgling relationship for good. I like the island setting and some of the characters but I'm just not in love with the author's style. He tends to clump things together to move the story along, and there just doesn't seem to be enough true emotion to fully engage the reader's emotions. Could be I am too demanding. All in all, not a bad summer read.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book resonated with me perhaps more than any other novel I have ever read. I'll still always have works like "Lord of the Rings" at the top of my favorites list, but LotR is more of a "I want to be there" and "this journey is important to me" kind of experience, "Island Apart" feels like the author got in to my head while he was writing and concocted a tale just for me. The setting, Martha's Vinyard, is an East Coast version of where I live in the Pacific Northwest. The male lead in the story is an extreme version of me: reclusive, introspective, and wary of painful contact with other humans. He's perfectly content in his solitude and comfortable living life his own way. The other islanders refer to him as "the Hermit", and it fits.

I'm a big fan of Rosamund Pilcher, and this is basically her style but told by a Yank in a Yank setting, with the requisite flashbacks to an earlier time and gentle explorations of interpersonal relationships in a colorful setting. Skillfully drawn characters galore. The female lead does a bit of overreacting at one point, dangerously close to the "psycho-harpies" who annoy me in cheap romance novels. But it's a brief, solitary moment and doesn't mar the story at all.

[Jalynn Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, who knew that the author of the Barbeque Bible could write a novel. This is Steven Raichlen's first novel. And it was a page turner. I really enjoyed my advanced copy. A short summary of the book:
Claire Doheney,recovering from a serious illness, agrees to house-sit in an oceanfront mansion on Chappaquiddick Island, off Martha's Vineyard. The New York book editor hopes to find solace, strength, and sufficient calm to finish her biography of the iconoclastic psychotherapist, Wilhelm Reich.
The last thing she expects to find is love.
Then she meets a mysterious man the locals call the Hermit. No one knows his real name or where he lives. To their mutual surprise, Claire and the stranger discover that they share a passion for cooking that soon sparks something more.

[Helen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I probably would have enjoyed this book more if I'd read it at the beach.(what isn't more likeable at the beach?) Book mixes serious issues (protagonist is a cancer patient, mixed with sappy romance, book editing and detailed cooking experiences. The author manages to make a happy ending even after the narrator dies.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cajeta crepe cake with dulce de leche and cinnamon whip cream was used as an interrogation technique. What more do I need to say?

Two lonely people get to know one another and impress each other through culinary pursuits. It's a culinary mating call. I loved it. Parts of book rambled on with side stories. I found it interesting to various degrees because the side characters were engaging. Now I want to go to Chappaquiddick and feast on seafood... until I read the author's note at the end.

I found this book in Audible Escape, but I personally wouldn't classify this under romance. There is a little bit of everything for everyone in this book. Minor spoiler... it was a satisfying end, but not a HEA.

[Deborah Rusch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sad book about a NewYork book editor with terminal cancer goes to
Chappaquiddick Island after a messy divorce. There she "the hermit," a once famous chef living as a recluse on the island after being accused of killing his wife. The two form aclose bond, even an unusual treatment invented by a German expat , who himself died in prison after the FDA brought him to trial for using his unorthodox treatment and imprisoned him. Molly , Claire's daughter, gets pregnant and accepted into Tufts Medical School. Her "wild" boyfriend steps up to the plate and he and "the hermit" care for the baby while Mollygoes to school. It was a heart wrenching book with a moral.

[Amy Farges]

What a refreshing escape to a world not embroiled in anger, strife, and anguish. This simple story of human connections is so imbued with a sense of place that I sniffed the salt air and tasted the brine as I turned the pages. It turns out, they turned faster and faster until the oil burned out. What wonderful insight into expectations, relationships, illness, and individuality. Not least, I thoroughly salivated at each new dish or sip that was introduced. It's a love story about food culture, a mystery with building suspense, and a landscape story tied solidly to its locale. Go for it!

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

My biggest annoyance was the hermit was called The Hermit throughout the book! Sorry but I had to get that rant out first.

I never felt as though I got to know the characters enough to really care about them. There seemed to be a slot with a character tucked into each one - the ex husband, rebellious daughter, daughter’s annoying boyfriends, rich friends, seemingly poor man, best friend, difficult boss. It was neat, tidy, and seemed to be following a formula. Something, at least for me, was missing. 2.5 rounded up.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! The subtle, down to earth humor, the vivid imagery, and the wonderful descriptions of the food, the town, and the people made me feel like a fly on the wall watching the story unfold. I would like to see this made into a movie, although I think a lot of my favorite parts were feelings based on detailed descriptions, which might not translate well onto the big screen. Highly recommended!

[Roberta Miceli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed emotions about this book - some sections of the book were great - rich in description, emotion, connection and dialogue and they pulled me in completely. Other sections felt like they were trying too hard with irrelevant details and little emotion. A lot of information about MVY and Chappy were thrown in that weren't necessary - it was almost as if the author was trying to prove to us that he knew the area intimately.

[Merceda · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a decent book overall, but it went in and out of time in the latter part of the book. It held my interest but I also found that I kept having to go back to earlier parts of the book to remember who the characters were. Quite a lot about cooking and wines, which was okay, but I didn't overly enjoy them. It was sad that Claire died of cancer at the end.

[Rhoda Perron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, loss, and really good food is what is written on the back of this book! Totally sums it up. The Hermit and Claire both have interesting histories and I think it's wonderful that they found each other. Pretty darn good for his first novel. He has written books related to food and his love of food comes out in this book for sure. A good summer read!

[Susan E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Completely in love w/this book and author. Thoroughly enjoyed it - am a displaced Rhode Islander and the book put me back to a place in time where I was the happiest and would give the world to go back to. Just disappointed that Steven Raichlen has not written any more fiction. I could not put this book down!!!!!!!!!

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I might have enjoyed this more if I hadn't listened to the audio. It had the potential of being a lovely story but the writing, which was interspersed with bits of history, managed to keep you at a distance which was escalated by the narrator.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love, betrayal, life threatening illness, family relationships, compassion, secrets, cooking, an idyllic setting on Chappaquiddick, finding love again before the clock runs out. Life can be messy and beautiful.
Book #72 for 2022.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the food descriptions throughout the book. Made me want to learn more difficult recipes in the kitchen. Story was realistic, pulled in tough emotions, but good.

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful story of love and redemption and unlike people coming together.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars - that's what I would give this book if I could. Best book I've read in a long time.