Lucy Come Home
by Dave and Neta Jackson
An intriguing story of how one person came to be homeless and lived her entire adult life on the streets. Truly fascinating. It is a story told from two perspectives - from before she was homeless and from when she is 80 years old after being on the streets for more than 60 years. The biggest downfall of the book is that those 60 years are essentially missing from the story. After I read the last page I was still left wondering what happened during those 60 years. Surely with a main character this interesting there was a lot of story left to be told! I wanted more...
Generally books that flip back and forth from past to present tend to annoy me and this book was no exception. Instead of using interesting links or obvious memory flashes to ease back and forth between the stories it was more like two seperate stories that started and stopped every other chapter. I had the image of two seperately written books that were fanned together like shuffling a deck of cards. For me, the book would have read so much better if it had been written chronologically along with more storyline from the missing 60 years.
With all that being said, I do recommend this book because I did enjoy reading it and will definately read more from these authors. The two stories were well written and certainly kept me entertained. I was competely and emotionally drawn into the younger girls story and found myself cheering for the old bag lady and her antics. This is not a character I will soon forget!!
Disclosure: Litfuse Publicity Group provided me with a complimentary copy of this book as part of their blog tours program. See the blog tour details here
Visit http://www.daveneta.com for more info about the authors.
About the book:
Fifteen-year-old Cindy worked long days beside her migrant worker family in Michigan's sugar beet fields in the early 1940s -- the "war years" -- until she met a dashing young man from a traveling carnival, bringing some joy and fun into her hard-scrabble life. But a tragic twist of fate -- and a dead field boss-- sent the two young people on the run, leaving behind family and everything she'd ever known.
Lucy Tucker, the crotchety old bag lady from the popular Yada Yada House of Hope series, is a veteran of Chicago streets and not about to give up her independence, even as she approaches her 80th birthday. Until, that is, a young displaced woman with her gentle aging mother and a dog named Dandy seem to need her -- unsettling the secretive Lucy, who doesn't let anyone get too close. But just when it seems her past is catching up with her to bring her in out of the cold... Lucy disappears again.
How these two tales intersect and intertwine between past and present gradually shines light into the dark corners of Lucy's murky past. But... why won't Lucy come home?
