Jamie Langston Turner

Dear Readers,

I fell in love with Jamie Langston Turner’s writing style many years ago when I read Some Wild Flowers in My Heart.  She used words in such a way that the story just seemed to flow around you, wrap you up and carry you away.  The characters were 3 dimensional and quite believable.  The stories covered the entirety of each page of the books.  It was printed from top to bottom of the pages, and I didn’t want to miss one of those words.  Each book was rich in this wonderful story telling.  And then suddenly she disappeared.  Not sure why, but I couldn’t find any new books, that is until this year.  To see the MoonAgain released just a few short weeks ago and I could hardly wait to read it. 

Julia lives a quiet life.  She has closed herself off from family and friends because of something that happened years ago.  Just a year after her husband passes, her college gives her a year sabbatical and she is at loose ends as to what to do.  Travel? Take a class?  Write a paper to get published again?  All good ideas, but none that sound good enough to really want to do.  Then there is that message on Julia’s machine at home, the message from her niece she has never met.  Carmen wants to come and stay for a little while.  She wants a chance to get to know the Aunt that she has heard so much about. 

The two couldn’t be more different, Julia is quiet and reserved.  She teaches English at her small South Carolina college.  Carmen on the other hand is outgoing, having never met a stranger.  She never finished high school because she left home when she was 17.  Her background may be sketchy, but she has a wealth of knowledge and isn’t afraid to ask questions.  Julia is worried about what they have in common and how much Carmen will disrupt her life. 

The richness of the story develops from there.  One of the things that made me enjoy this book is that all its secrets are not given away on the back cover.  That is a pet peeve of mine, back covers that leave nothing to be discovered.  This time you can walk the journey with the characters, making discoveries about each of them along the way.  It was like developing a friendship and as that friendship developed you built trust and then could share each other’s story.   

There is a wonderful quote in the book. It is on page 238 and it really seemed to sum up this book for me.  “Like everything else in life, you couldn’t know what was at the end of the trip unless you packed your bags and set out.”  You won’t know what is in this book until you open the cover.