That Part Was True

That Part Was True by Deborah McKinlay

Love is in the air. As we approach Valentine's Day, I plan to highlight some new releases that examine the power of love in all of our lives. Tender and warm, this basic human emotion can also be heartbreaking and painful. So until the warmth of spring arrives, I hope you will enjoy one or more of these selections in the frigid days of February.

Eve Petworth and Jackson Cooper are two lonely souls drifting through life. He is a successful American author; handsome, witty, and wealthy with a lovely beach house in the Hamptons. With his second divorce on the horizon, Jack begins to realize he may not be marriage material after all, even though female admirers are never in short supply. He is approaching fifty and finding it increasingly difficult to write the next book in his wildly popular series. Then he receives a letter from a fan in England. Her name is Eve Petworth. They share a mutual love of good food, good wines, and cooking. It all begins by sharing recipes of culinary delights and turns out to be so much more. The correspondence forces them to make changes in their lives they never imagined.

Eve Petworth lives a somewhat isolated life across the sea from America. Her only daughter, Izzy, announces wedding plans, and immediately, Eve's dreaded panic attacks begin again. Divorced long ago, Eve has always felt the outsider, even with her own overbearing  mother, now deceased. Perhaps she is incapable of feeling love for daughter, and that thought frightens her. But she loves to cook, and when the hand-written letters arrive from Jack, her heart begins to open, and the stress and anxiety of life begin to fade away. When Jack suggests they meet in Paris, will Eve take a leap of faith and actually allow herself the chance to live again?

I think the cover of this book tells it all; the Eiffel Tower resplendent with tulips in spring. It is a short, simple novel about two wistful people longing to find the one elusive thing in their lives that is missing--love. Light and airy, the author writes with mellowness and romanticism. These are characters filled with self-doubt who find the healing power of anonymity with words written, not spoken.

And a most surprising ending.