Discoveries
 Shirley Ann Parker
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2002 Infinity Publishing.com
  ISBN: 074140771X
Amazon's price is: $14.95

A Journey Through Life in 17 stories about everyday challenges & magical moments.

As Shirley Ann Parker's synopsis says: “Like the flash and dart of dragonflies, other busy lives surround ours as we prance unaware through our own world. These...stories, set in our time in our land of the free, share common themes of family, friendship, humor, and a sense of wonder.”

Come join this British-born author as she holds our foibles & flaws up to the warming light of wry humor, under the compassionate glow of understanding our frailties, & the heart-wrenching sorrows & magical joys we all encounter.

From the circles within circles of Old Man Shever in which we meet angry Tim, who lives with his older brother & his wife. Tim has never gotten over the loss of his parents, & can't see why his brother would want to adopt a baby. Until their neighbor, Mr. Shever, invites him in for cake & shows him an old sea chest in which Tim discovers a secret that changes his life.

Or The Jade Necklace in which dowdy Susan Wheeler hires a private investigator to find her stolen heirloom. The PI just happens to be the know-it-all in high school & they don't seem at all compatible. Still, it's just until he finds her necklace.

Or The Palace You Have Here in which Margaret is anticipating her parents' visit to America. They would be staying for a full month, & suddenly everything about the new old house Jim & Margaret had just bought, seems wrong...until her parents arrive & are thrilled with it all.

Seventeen curious stories, interesting perspectives with outcomes both redemptive & possible. Shirley Ann Parker definitely has an ear for dialogue, & a charming turn of phrase.

www.shirleyannparker.com
(09/22/02)

Rebecca