THE WINDMILL

Author: Stephanie Gertler ISBN: 0525948007 11/2004 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: DUTTON

Olivia and Carl appear to have the perfect life: a son and a daughter, weekends on Cape Cod, and satisfying work as professors at Belvedere College in the picturesque town of Willow, Massachusetts. Until, one day, the seemingly stable, dependable Carl disappears without a trace—leaving behind only a cryptic note. Alone and terrified, Olivia cannot help but relive the long-buried pain she felt when she lost her first husband. While Carl travels back to his childhood hometown to confront demons he has hidden from his wife, Olivia takes a journey of her own as she tries to make peace with memories that have always haunted her...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

It sure didn’t take me long to drag out the hankie with THE WINDMILL. I had a lump in my throat after reading just the first 20 pages, and was into choked sobbing by the time I finished the second chapter. Once again, Stephanie Gertler sent me through a gauntlet of emotions, from heartache, denial, and sadness, finally coming to rest in peace of both heart and soul.

This is more than just the story of Olivia and Carl, the middle-aged couple who have pasts they’ve run from but need to come to grips with. Like they say, you can run, but you can't hide, and sooner or later those things you've left behind unresolved will catch up with you. Even though over the course of years Olivia and Carl have loved each other- each in their own way-it is not until they both face, and then let go of, their haunting pasts that they come into a deeper, richer and more fulfilling love that neither dreamed they would find.

The secondary characters, who just happen to be Olivia's mother and father, are woven into this story in such a way that they become just as important to the reader as Olivia and Carl. So too, is her ever supportive sister, Nina. All are as fleshed out and as interesting as the main couple, but what clutches your heart most is the relationship of Olivia's parents through her father's illness, a circumstance touched not just by sadness, but by tenderness, patience and understanding, poignantly illustrated by Gertler's portrayal of a devoted wife, still in love with her Alzheimer afflicted husband.

I am just so hooked on Stephanie Gertler. Her writing is always well-paced, and the farther you read into her stories the more she draws you in. By the time you're close to the ending, you wish you had more left to read. Emotionally charged with true-to-life characters, THE WINDMILL is a story of devotion and everlasting relationships. It is a book to savor and ponder long after you've finished its last page. In short, it's simply wonderful.

Nancy Davis