Wish You Well

by David Baldacci
PRMS withdrawn hardcover 399 pages
genre: historical, realistic fiction

I like Baldacci's writing better than Nicholas Sparks' (but that's not saying much since I despise Sparks). You can read a description of this book on Amazon. To jog my memory: set in the 1940s, Lou and Oz go to the Virginia mountains to live with their great-grandma Louisa when their dad is killed in a car accident. Pathos and folksiness ensue. Predictable ending? Yep.

Funny part - when the kids are talking about church and Lou explains the Catholic school they went to in New York (with the Sacraments, the Creed, the Rosary, etc.) "Diamond . . . looked truly bewildered. 'Huh. Who'd thunk believing in God be such hard work? Prob'ly why ain't no Catolicks up this way. Tax the head too much.'"

And two pages later, Eugene to the kids: "'Miz Louisa, she believe in God with all her soul. But she don't subscribe to church much. She say the way some folk run they's churches, it take God right out cha heart.'" Amen! I'm glad I don't go to that kind of church, but I know what he's referring to!

I did love the scene when the neighbors showed up to do a barn raising . . .