Ever feel like life is passing you by and you can’t put your finger on why? Maybe you feel that you’ve lost the sense of who you really are? Faced with the demands of family and work, you find yourself performing endless duties without any thought. Perhaps for a moment, you remember a different time, one when you were filled with passion and determination. Susannah Nelson, heroine of Debbie Macomber’s Susannah’s Garden, knows the feeling.

Susannah is unsettled despite her tranquil home and happy marriage to husband Joe. It makes her question why she is dreaming about her high school sweetheart, Jake? An odd call from her mother’s neighbor sets her up for an unplanned vacation and a journey into her past. A journey she both fears and needs.

Joe blames Susannah's moodiness on her father's November death. Susannah fights the notion since she was never fond of her autocratic father, especially after he broke up Jake and her. She believes that maybe her father's death started her thinking of Jake again Now, she yearns for closure of that long-ago relationship with Jake and an explanation why he never tried to contact her.

While Susannah buries any thought of her father, her mother is busy chatting with the father. Certain her mother is suffering from dementia, Susannah undertakes finding her a place in an assisted living community and breaking down her old home. In the process, she discovers hidden family secrets and a few truths about herself.

A mystery encompasses Susannah's deceased brother that is tantalizingly revealed page by page. Susannah is baffled that her mother did not bury her father by his only son. Who leaves flowers on her brother’s grave? Then there’s Chrissie, Susannah’s daughter, a regular tornado, who arrives to “help” accompanied by an unsavory companion. The plot twists keep the reader guessing. Susannah is strong character who perseveres through her trials and wants a better relationship with her belligerent daughter. Readers should be able to identify.

Susannah’s Garden is another great read by Debbie Macomber. It’s a little deeper than her previous novels. It really makes you think, which isn’t always a bad thing. I would highly recommend it.

Reviewed by Morgan Wyatt
© July 2007