Every
homeless person has a story and this novel lets us in on the story of
crotchety Lucy Tucker, from the Yada Yada House of Hope series. Her
family lost their farm in the Dust Bowl era and were now migrant
workers. Fifteen year old Lucinda meets a “carnie,” Bo, who
works for a traveling carnival. Bo saves Cindy when she was sexually
attacked by the farm owner. One defensive blow and the man is dead.
Bo and Cindy run off.
The
story alternates between the present and the 1940s. In the 40s, we
follow Bo and Cindy as they try to find employment and carve out a
life, all the while hiding from the law. In the current time, we
observe Lucy as she finally encounters an old woman and a dog who
need her.
With
subtle weaving of the story, we see how Cindy became Lucy, how she
found and lost love, and how she came to the place she is as an old
woman.
This
novel is long and slow moving. As we follow Bo and Cindy, they have
the same kinds of experiences over and over again. I felt the novel
could have been about a hundred pages shorter without losing any essential aspects of the story.
I didn't
like Lucy. Saying she is crotchety is putting it mildly. She is
argumentative and crabby. Underneath it all she has a good heart but
I was puzzled as to why she kept hiding it all the time. People kept
on being nice to her which was amazing to me.
I got
tired of the “down home” language of Lucy. Even as an eighty
year old residing in Chicago for sixty years, she still spoke as if
she had just arrived from Arkansas.
Lucy
fought God's invitation time after time. Her feeling she was just
too unworthy to be loved by Him was very realistic. The issue is
unresolved in the end. I would have rather seen Lucy finally be
reconciled to God, but it doesn't always happen that way.
Dave and
Neta Jackson are award-winning authors living in the Chicago area
where Lucy's story takes place. Together they have authored or
coauthored over 100 books. Visit www.daveneta.com
for more information.
Castle
Rock Creative, 424 pages. Please visit your local Christian
bookstore to buy this book.
I am participating in a blog tour of this book. To see what others are saying about Lucy Come Home, go here.
I
received an egalley of this book through LitFuse Publicity for the
purpose of this review.
1 comment:
I am a huge fan of Dave and Neta Jackson. I own all of the Yada Yada Prayer Group books, and all of the books that followed after that. I was really excited to read this book because I've yet to read anything by them that I didn't like.
This is the first book in their new series, A Yada Yada Journey of Hope. This book includes many of the old favorites in past series and introduces the reader to Lucy Tucker, a resident of Manna House Shelter. The book goes back and forth between the present time and the 1940s to better give the reader a sense of Lucy's history and past.
Lucy is 80 years old and still lives on the streets of Chicago. Why? That's any one's guess until now. The story goes back to the wars, the migrant workers, the carnival workers, and even the homeless. Times were tougher then and she saw and experienced things that she shouldn't have had to at her age.
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