"I know you are young. I know you think it could never happen to you. We all think it. We shuffle quietly along expecting life, expecting blossoms and growth and continuance. We look ahead and see nothing but all our dreams coming true. We are dauntless.
"But, as I wish someone had told me when I was your age, here is the truth: Every person's journey is touched by loss. At some point in this life, someone will be taken away from you. The place where they were . . . empty."
I rarely quote from book jackets, but this time I must. "Every now and then a gifted new writer bursts on the scene blessed with rare wisdom, dazzling eloquence, and a deep understanding of what it means to be human, to be alive. Amy Yurk is just such a writer, establishing herself with her enthralling debut novel, a tale of loss, friendship, and the resilience of a woman's heart . . .."
Sarah Strickland does publicity for several firms from her home office. She writes daily in a journal about the child she dreams of having. Gavin, her husband is not yet ready to start a family, but Sarah feels he will be ready soon. This is her hope as she pens her feelings and desires in the journal meant to be read one day by her dream child.
Sarah's best friend Calista already has a child. Calista has shared Sarah's life since Kindergarten through College and into the present day. Mike, Calista's husband is nothing like Sarah's Gavin. He is not a romantic, not given to bringing his wife roses or saying just the right thing to cheer her. However, Gavin and Mike are also good friends, and the two couples share their lives, their hopes and their dreams.
When Gavin finally comes to Sarah and says that he is ready to start a family, she is elated. After a few months when they learn a baby is on the way and that it will be a little girl, the happiness they experience knows no bounds. Gavin's business is prospering, Sarah's is, too, and all seems right and beautiful in their young lives.
Then, on a New Year's Eve when Gavin and Sarah are on their way to an ice cream store, a drunk driver broadsides them. Gavin dies instantly with a broken neck. Sarah and the baby-to- be, survive.
The pages of Sarah's journal take on a brooding, grief-filled aura. Not even Calista can take away the pain of loss her dear friend suffers. Gradually, this friendship suffers because one cannot understand the pain of the other and feels that time will heal the wound. Sarah is convinced nothing, not time, not space, not anything can take away the horrible void in her life.
Julie Patterson, an interior decorator buys the house next door to Sarah. It is hate at first sight for Sarah. Julie, tall, lean and lovely seems not to have a care in the world. Her very happiness mocks Sarah's grief. Only after the two women come to know each other does Sarah learn that three years earlier, Julie's own husband, an attorney, was gunned down in a drive by shooting. Julie tells Sarah that her husband had been a successful attorney who made a good living representing lowlifes like the boy who killed him, but all the money in the world didn't keep him alive.
The breach between Calista and Sarah widens as a deep friendship develops between Julie and Sarah. Jealousy? Perhaps. Jealousy because Julie understands what Calista cannot. Julie has the knowledge to show Sarah that there is life beyond the pain she feels.
Each journal entry tears at the heart, explains the stages of grief we humans suffer, and week by week Sarah grows stronger as does the child in her womb.
"This is truly a celebration of life, hope, and the healing power of love. ‘The Kind of Love That Saves You,' is an electrifying debut, an unforgettable story that will make you smile through your tears . . . and treasure the loved ones in your own life even more." I can add no other words to those of the publisher for they understood Yurk's message, grasped the deeper message in the young author's words. Words that at this moment mean so much to me and to my family.
This review is dedicated to the memory of Cherry Lynn Jones, 1952-2000.
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(Jones is a published writer & literary critic)
COPYRIGHT SEPT. 21, 2000, PATRICIA A. JONES, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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