Leah Thornton has a very successful life to those looking on. An accomplished high school English teacher who married into a well-to-do family who gifted her and husband Carl with a gorgeous home (not of her taste) on their wedding day, she seems to have it all. But like most circumstances, people have no idea what goes on behind closed doors.
Walking on Broken Glass documents Leah's story beginning with a drunken grocery shopping trip where she wrestles over which apple juice to purchase, to being confronted by her best friend, to her days in rehab where she finally faces the real Leah for the first time. Told in Leah's own words, Allen has a way with prose that keeps this non-formulaic (as Publisher's Weekly calls it) novel from ever becoming a yawner. In fact it kept me awake during the nocturnal hours I had my nose in it!
I would have expected a story that spends most of its time within the walls of a recovery program to be fraught with a dark, depressive, and anguish-filled setting. To the contrary, Allen doesn't make light of Leah's experience, but masterfully manages to show the serious side of recovery from alcohol addiction without pulling down the reader.
Allen's fresh style and characterizations are both amusing and poignant as she incorporates sarcastic humor into Leah's cadre of coping mechanisms and Carl's misconceptions of what his role of a husband should be. Both the character arc and spiritual arc in these characters is high, although far from preachy.
This was one of those stories that I was sorry to reach the last page. I wanted it to go on, but like many good things, it had to come to an end.
You won't be sorry to pick this one up. You can get it at Amazon, among other places. It's out now!
If you would like to read the first chapter of Walking on Broken Glass, go HERE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Christa Allan, a true Southern woman who knows any cook worth her gumbo always starts with a roux and who never wears white after Labor Day, weaves stories of unscripted grace with threads of hope, humor, and heart.
The mother of five and grandmother of three, Christa teaches high school English. She and her husband, Ken live in Abita Springs, Louisiana where they play golf, dodge hurricanes, and anticipate retirement.
2 comments:
Bless you for hosting my novel, and for introducing your readers to Leah. I so appreciate your review.
Great review, Pam! Great novel, Christa! I agree with all Pam says.
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