Leota's Garden

Award-winning author Francine Rivers warmly shows how generational secrets can embitter and estrange families. Leota, neglected and alone, is 84. Her daughter shuns her until Annie, her granddaughter, breaks from her embittered mother's tradition of indifference and enters Leota's life to learn secrets never before revealed. Narrator Flo Schmidt captures the spirit of Leota's self-centered daughter and then flows smoothly into the warmth of Annie's character and the idealism of Corban, the college student who brings the story into focus. The pacing is appropriate, the characterization well done, and the ending, although bittersweet, filled with reconciliation and hope. G.D.W. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

November 1, 2013

At one time, Leota's garden was a peaceful respite for her. But Leota Rinehardt is now 84, and her garden is as neglected by her as she is by her family. As she despairs of reconciliation, some unexpected visitors bring renewal to her and her garden. While this faith-based novel is wonderfully character driven, there are a few too many similar scenes and some characters should have been more fully developed or excluded. Rivers is a well-known and popular author who provides another stirring novel. Melissa Hurst's narration is spot-on in portraying the elderly Leota and younger characters as well as the quiet whisper of the Lord in response to prayer. VERDICT For inspirational fiction collections.--J. Sara Paulk, Wythe-Grayson Regional Lib., Independence, VA

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