Review: It's a story about learning to love life
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 13, 2013
It is a story, which in part must sound familiar to everybody, who has ever lived in a small town. In Jacob's Creek people are trying to live a respectable life - Southern style. Thus it is no wonder that the MacAllisters stands out. They are cursed by that all Mac Allister husbands die young and live in a matriarchal way. They might even be witches...There are Maggie, single mother to teenage daughter Liz, who believes to have inherited the witch talents running in the family, Maggie's Momma, who is dying of cancer, Liz' best friend Desi, and Desi's ridiculous handsome father JD Seaborne. JD is short for James Dean. JD and Desi moved from Detroit to Jacob's Creek, after Desi's mother died.Maggie tries to cope with what the elder women in her family were trying to teach her. She is also writing a book, but has no illusion about how it will be perceived in her home town: "Sadly, no one in Jacob's Creek will read it, but everyone will have an opinion on it".Liz tries to cope with the death of her grandmother, who really raised her because Maggie is always busy. In search for love she falls for flashy schoolmate Rowan.JD and Desi have really left Detroit because Desi's mother killed herself. Now JD is running his little restaurant 'Tabella Incantato' and tries to forget what went wrong in Detroit.There are also cats FatMan and LittleBoy, named "after the atomic bombs dropped in WWII. Because cats are like that". And, then there are the crows. Momma used to say they forecast what's coming."An Untold Want" is an gripping story because it touches taboos and more typical life's complications. Real friendships and feelings prevail and some side characters will even learn to see the beauty of that. The book connects with old wisdom and nature. The ending is completely surprising and beautiful, especially since all protagonists worked on getting there, even if one of them did not know it.In part the dialogues are hilarious:"But I asked you about the book.""The book ." She pauses, takes a sip of wine. "The book. Well, I'm sure you've heard about how the MacAllisters are witches--""Like in Bell, Book, and Candle?""What?""You know, the Jimmy Stewart movie. Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon."As if sensing her confusion, he says, "I usually watch the late movie after work, and I've come to love a lot of the old movies.""And Jimmy Stewart was a witch?""No," he says. "Kim Novak's the witch."I really loved how Sara Stark interweaves parts of the book Maggie writes, the story itself and the diary entries from the deceased MacAllister women. Together they make up a puzzle the readers gets to solve.Gisela Hausmann, author & blogger