A Promise Kept

Words can move you, words have the power to transform your life,

Words can take you places within and outside.

This one book made me cry. 

The tears rolled down my cheek as I read. I could not stop, I finished 380 pages in half a day. I had to be part of the journey. 

So well does this author weave magic into her books. 

I read one of her books ( The Nightingale) early this year and wanted to explore more of her writing, but delayed buying anymore books due to the lockdown and need to check my spendings. 

When I realised the lockdown was not going to ease, I needed solace, I an ardent paperback lover, turned digital.

It took a while to get used to, but the love for reading converted me quickly. 

This book is not my life, it is nothing related to my experiences.

Yet I could feel the loss and need to belong in the main characters.

It deals with friendship, teenage years, the carefree lives, the age my daughters are at right now.

Maybe I do see a little bit of them in the characters, that is why I cried so much or maybe I wish they had that life as shown in the lives of the characters and that is why the aching. 

Or maybe my fragile mind can't take so much of emotional drama.

It is about love, loss, fear, retribution, guilt.  Sacrifice, second chances. Abandonment, Forgiveness. Mortality and living while dead inside. 

It is a rollercoaster ride  and emotional marathon. It drains you, every word wrings your heart, you don’t stop, you go on, you finish and then when you finish you are left in a state of shock but content. Her writing is so heartfelt, you know this is not a real life account, yet you believe it could be true.  

The characters come to life with her writing, the emotions are not just words but experience you go through. 

" Maybe time did not heal wounds exactly, but it gave you a kind of armor or a new perspective. A way to remember with a smile instead of a sob"

Its about love yes, a mother’s fierce love, which sometimes seems overbearing, a child’s easy going take everything for granted love, a father’s caring seemingly distant love. The mystery and excitement of first love. Love between friends, powerful, all consuming, 

The relationships so real.  I was left remembering first loves, curfews, strict parenting. 

The ending came too soon, forgiveness takes time for me, sometimes I fool myself into thinking I have accepted and moved on.
So when the storyline changed into a more forgiving and giving nature, I felt the author is trying to tell me something and that made me cry even more.

This is one book which will remain etched in me forever, I have not shed so much tears over mere words in a long time. 

"People think love is an act of faith", her mother said. " Sometimes it's an act of will"

Kristin Hannah- Night Road