A Song I Knew by Heart
Bret Lott
(Reviewer - Rebecca Brown)
2004 Random House
ISBN: 0375503773

Bound together by kinship, two women learn to live through grief.

During a cold New England winter, a man's car skids on black ice & crashes, leaving a mother childless & her daughter-in-law a widow.

Eight years before, when Naomi had lost her husband, Eli, her son, Mahlon & his wife Ruth, had moved in with her. Now Ruth has lost her husband. This is the song Naomi knows by heart.

The only family Naomi has left is Eli's, down South. People she hasn't seen in decades, only keeping in touch through annual Christmas cards. Perhaps because she carries a secret in her soul, when she phones to tell of her plans to move back to the sun & the pines she remembers from her childhood, she is surprised at their eager & open welcome.

When she tells Ruth about her plans, she also receives an unexpected reply: “Where you go, I will go. Where you live, that's where I'll live too.” & so these two women, like those in the Bible, let go their home of memories, say their goodbyes in the cemetery & leave the cold North.

Naomi & Ruth journey across more than physical miles to reach South Carolina where they enter a boisterous family life & encounter new beginnings. Naomi must revisit old transgressions & find forgiveness, & both will begin to love again.

Written in 70-year-old Naomi's voice, Bret Lott takes us into the grey, cold world of grief where numbness & despair dwell. Then, when Naomi decides to leave the land of her marriage, despair melts away in the plans & actions, which in turn allows hope to blossom, even as the Southern sun melts their frozen hearts & souls.

A rich, dreamy & memorable read, superbly written.

More from Bret Lott:
Jewel An Oprah Book Club® Selection
The Hunt Club
The Man Who Owned Vermont
Reed's Beach & more.
(09/26/04)

Rebecca