NEWLY RELEASED
Forty-one year old Dana Quinn, a closet writer, career waitress and three-time psych ward patient has just lost her last family member. For Dana to go on, she must create a life meaningful enough to answer her eternal question: why did she alone survive the accident that killed her family? That’s a tall order for someone who’s barely managed to exist. Never married, in and out of an institution where only her writing saved her, Dana works a dismal job with a few friends she’s managed to keep at a safe distance.
Lost and hopeless in the weeks following Aunt Irma’s unexpected death, Dana discovers a letter and takes her aunt’s advice to walk away from her life in Queens and return to her family farm to write herself well one more time. For over thirty years Dana’s believed the farm was sold and did her best to forget it. But what if everything in the house is frozen in time exactly the way they left it? Nothing can stop her from walking through that door.
On the road she adopts a one-eared dog and finds a new best friend in Iowan-turned-New Yorker, Stu, who’s given up designing off-Broadway sets to care for his ailing mother back in his tiny hometown.
Chokecherry, her father’s beloved farm, is not at all what Dana expects and far more than she bargains for. By firelight, Malcolm reveals the cryptic history buried in the tunnel, and why the big barn strikes fear in the hearts of those who enter it. Despite its tragic past, the farm also possesses an undeniable capacity to heal the broken. In fact, it seems to be a magnet for broken hearts. Just as Dana and her friends form a tight bond and rise to the challenge of helping Chokecherry realize its true potential, a supernatural ability she’s failed to repress for years, nearly kills her. Dana’s forced to fight for a life she wants–a life that finally answers her eternal question in ways she never could’ve imagined.
My Opinion:
Chokecherry is a unique read for any book lover. Chokecherry is the name of Dana’s deceased fathers farm, the family farm. The family farm that she had thought had been sold off, sold off so that she wouldn’t have to face the past. Dana discovers that the farm has not been sold, and in turn get to re-visit. Seems like a simple task, right? Well Dana has some skeletons that she has to deal with, skeletons that she has carried around for a very long time. Dana herself has been in and out of psych wards three times, she is the last sole survivor of her family at age 41, and she longs to know why.
Chokecherry is a wonderful example of how one attempts to recover from a traumatic life. I found the characters very well-developed and could easily see them as neighbors or friends. The journey that the book takes you through is heartbreaking, exhilarating, and even touches of laughter. Three strong characters, each seeking answers to what haunts them, each trying to bury their past, and move on to a better life.
Chokecherry is one of those books that if you have never experiences trauma, never experienced a bit of mental instability you might have a bit of difficulty understanding the characters and the plot. This is a novel that you must take “as is”. If you have lived a “Fairy Tale” existence, you won’t have a chance at understanding. But for the majority of us, this is a fabulous journey to healing and facing your skeletons.
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Sheri’s Debut Book – Swallowtail
Meshal’s Swallowtail is a haunting story about life, love, loss and just how far we’ll go to control it all.
I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.
Another wonderful book from Sheri, so pleased you enjoyed it xx