When their tragic past begins to resurface, can he help her remember the things she can’t? After her mother’s death twelve years ago, Lynette Carlisle watched her close-knit family unravel. One by one, her four older siblings left their Nantucket home and never returned. All seem to blame their father for their mother’s death, but nobody will talk about that tragic day. And Lynette’s memory only … memory only speaks through nightmares.
Then Nicholas Cooper returns to Nantucket, bringing the past with him. Once Lynette’s adolescent crush, Nick knows more about her mother’s death than he lets on. The truth could tear apart his own family–and destroy his fragile friendship with Lynette, the woman he no longer thinks of as a kid sister.
As their father’s failing health and financial concerns bring the Carlisle siblings home, secrets surface that will either restore their shattered relationships or separate the siblings forever. But pulling up anchor on the past propels them into the perfect storm, powerful enough to make them question their faith, their willingness to forgive, and the very truth of all the things they thought they knew.
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This is a read that will touch your heart, open your mind, and will make you remember how important unconditional love is. Catherine West approaches difficult subjects that frequently occur in our world today such as drugs, alcohol, unfaithfulness in marriage in an open, honest yet tender way. This family has many struggles that are not uncommon. They each deal with their issues in their own way, but as the quotes here point out mercy, grace and forgiveness show up in a beautiful, well written storyline. The characters have strong backgrounds, and the reader is drawn in to their broken world. Faith and forgiveness being the only real answer to all of their questions.
Through the journey, the siblings learn to communicate, forgive, and most importantly love. The secondary characters add much to the plot. I’m not a huge fan of contemporary reads, but I found much to like about this one. I also loved the fact that no language or detailed obscene scenes were necessary to produce a powerful book about tough subjects. Catherine West proves that these topics can be an intricate part of the plot, yet produce a clean read.
For those who love contemporary stories with hard subjects and much realism, don’t miss this emotional read. I for one am definitely hoping for a sequel.
” His eyes came to rest on the large family Bible in the bookcase. Passed down through generations, he wondered when any of them had last looked at it.” Gray in The Things We Knew
“…his thoughts drifted toward things he’d learned as a child. Faith. Mercy. Grace. Things he’d forgotten until recently.”
I received this book through the publisher for my honest opinion which I have given.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. In “The Things We Knew” we follow the story of the Carlisle family, a broken family who is trying to move on after seasons of heartache. The problem is each sibling has not invited the others to participate in their glory and struggles. Plus the eldest siblings hold a resentment against their father believing he has done something terrible that forever changed their family’s life.
The youngest, Lynette, is left alone to care for their father and their house while she deals with her own ghosts and lack of memory of what happened during that terrible day their lives changes forever.
When circumstances bring all siblings back to Nantucket, they learn to stop fighting each other and start fighting with each other, helping each other and forgiving each other.
The story of reconciliation is beautiful. The way Catherine West writes is simple and heartwarming. She has no need to add too much detail or drama to make us feel each character’s struggles and to make us understand each one and love each one.
A beautiful book about reconciliation, starting over and healing of broken hearts.
Catherine West has done it again, made me laugh, cry, not want to put the book down, and be disappointed when it is over. She made me want to visit Nantucket and meet these characters. I loved the characters, especially Gray and Tori’s story. Catherine is such a prolific author that she can have many characters and their stories, but you never feel lost and all the ends are made into a tapestry at the end. This book deals with some sensitive topics such as Alzheimer’s, which hit me as my best friend’s husband who is a wonderful man is suffering from, drug and alcohol addictions, memory loss. The family has issues but Faith and family can get us through. Highly recommend and would give more stars if I could.
I received a copy from the author for a honest review and I have done that.
I received this book for an honest review from The Fiction Guild. It was a wonderful story of a family that had secrets between them but the biggest was the loss of their mother and the sister who was there and couldn’t remember it. She was the youngest and dropped out of college to help her dad. Each of other siblings had their problems but none of them really ever talked about it between them and really didn’t come home to help. When it becomes a choice of selling the family home they all have to come home to deal with the secrets and actually see what has happened with their dad who is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. They were all sorta close growing up and the young man next store who was best friends with Gray but had a falling out when he told him of one of the secrets and caused them to stop talking for 5 years. When you have faith and a lot of hope everything can be gotten over. And the real things is when the older siblings realize that their sister is a talented artist and is able to handle a lot more then they give her credit for. I would recommend this book who wants a really wonderful story about bringing families back together.
Catherine West’s books were recommended to me and they were right. I think I’ve found another author worth following. Loved the interaction between the characters. Easy to read, good issues and emotion. Gentle truths appropriately added. Looking forward to reading my next West.