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When her Aunt Jetty, who raised her since her infancy, dies, Matilda flees her small Kansas town. She leaves behind the fiancé who is a good friend but, Jetty warned her, maybe not the best man for her. And, indeed, soon after she arrives in Michigan, she does find a wonderful man who sparks the passion in her. Henry is a writer but having a difficult time finding the right words to put on paper — but they flow immediately when he sees the striking Matilda at his library. Six years later, they decide to move to Kansas, not to Matilda’s town (that would be too uncomfortable, since Matilda has never faced the fiancé she left behind, nor does she feel ready to see the old home she shared with Jetty), but, nevertheless, Kansas. But an accident derails them, and in a moment of deep grief, Matilda says to Henry, “I wish I’d never met you.”
Next, Matilda wakes up in Jetty’s house, and Henry is back in Michigan. Both quickly learn that they have forgotten six whole years, and they find themselves lost, unnerved, unmoored. Each feels broken. And neither remembers the other.
As each tries to piece together a life, big and little magical, impossible, things draw them inexorably together. When they meet, they know there’s a strange pull, but can they get past the grief, sadness and confusion that threaten to keep them apart?
A Thousand Sleepless Nights is a love story, a novel of magical realism. It’s a story of healing from tragedy and grief, of allowing yourself to love and be loved despite feelings of brokenness. It’s also a paean to books and reading. Both main characters and others in the novel love books and reading, and the story is set in libraries and bookstores. It’s clear the author loves those things herself.
I found myself a little unsure about the direction of the book near the beginning when the tragedy occurs, not quite sure if I was going to “go along” with the suspension of disbelief, in terms of why the alternate story happens (at the end I “got it”). But I eventually did find myself engaged in the story and rooting for these characters. Everyone who has experienced grief and deep sadness (which is pretty much all of us, in this human condition) will identify with the feelings exposed in the book and want to see healing start; all of us yearn to find love, friendship, belonging and understanding.
The writing is lovely and I enjoyed the setting and the descriptions of Jetty and her house, as well as the library and bookstore. Such neat places they would be to visit.
I personally know Teri Harman and she has written some reviews for this website. I accepted the offer of an ARC to review and have sought to write as unbiased a review as possible.
Rated: Mild. There is no language. Sexual content is limited to some kissing and references to the magnetic pull characters have toward each other. There is one scene that talks about an episode of domestic violence in the past.
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