A dark place full of blame, shame, guilt, betrayal, and deception. Throw in a couple of sociopaths, a UFO cult, some snobbish academics, a bewi I didn't have any expectations when I got this audio book. Throw in a couple of sociopaths, a UFO cult, some snobbish academics, a bewildered middle age professor researching a thin lead and an eccentric female genius on the down low, mix well and you have got this story.

A plot that will have you saying "jeez I knew he or she was gonna do or say that" long before they do. The story resolution was predictable for me but then I am a fortune teller, but still unique. It is a tale worth hearing and I did enjoy it, even laughed out loud quite a few times. It is also a story that sticks to you, it stays in your memory and that is why I have upgraded this review.

I found myself thinking about the story and the characters wondering just what they were doing- now.


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Feb 19, Deborah rated it it was amazing Shelves: But I love this book. As in the first book, there is a mystery and lot's of the politics of academia. In The Fortune Teller's Daughter A Novel , however, the writing is tighter and the plot twists insinuate rather than jar. The device of of using a snippet of tarot reading to begin each chapter is deft where it could have been heavy handed. Her characters are odd, yet endearing and believable.

I marked this three stars I liked it , but it was really a 2. The female lead was not as compelling as one could wish and felt very limp and passive. The most touching plot line was the main character's relationship with his son. I probably wouldn't pick up this author again. Too heavy, not enough action. Feb 06, Deb Atwood rated it really liked it. I can really see Shaara maturing as a writer. I quite liked her first book, but it seemed every other page the characters were drinking lemonade or coffee as if the author had to fill in dialogue with movement.

In The Fortune Teller's Daughter, the author's prose is much tighter, more fluid. I liked all the characters except, of course, the bad ones, which can be a little tedious to read about , and the story premise was engaging. Mar 29, Louise rated it liked it Shelves: At first this book dragged a little, but after a few chapters I started to get into it.

I liked how the main characters were portrayed, and the ending was a bit of a surprise, but not earth-shattering. The romance between the two main characters was pretty mundane and obvious -- even though the man kept claiming even to himself to like Maggie "as a friend". Give me a break. Overall though, it was interesting, and it really piqued my interest in Nikola Tesla. Jul 23, VanGoghChica rated it liked it. Really enjoyed this book. Perhaps because I grew up in the South and currently live in Florida I like the mixture of metaphysics and mundane life rat race politics and how we all mix it up.

Sep 10, Lori rated it it was amazing Shelves: I loved this book's unusual characters and storyline. It was surprisingly intelligent with interesting facts about Nicola Tesla and electricity.


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Enjoyed the interesting relationships between people having many ups and downs. I loved the ending too! Had they known Mrs. Had all these people really known her? More people than ever filled a town meeting crammed into the church, Moose River Junction paying final homage to the last of its aristocracy. The prelude was over and the congregation ceased their soft, respectful murmuring. The only sound now was the slow footsteps of the pallbearers flanking the solid cherrywood coffin. Behind it followed Beatrice Danforth's prodigal grandson, Danforth Smith.

Holding him by the right hand was her surviving offspring, her late-in-life, developmentally challenged son, Nagy. Beside his tall nephew, Nagy looked more gnomelike than usual. Like everyone else, he seemed out of context all dressed up in a dark suit hastily altered to fit his stumpy legs and short arms. His grizzled gray hair had been flattened into submission. As he drifted by Sabine, she felt the palpable confusion emanate from him.

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He'd had half a year to understand this was going to happen. And yet, as clear as speech, Sabine knew that he didn't really understand that his mother was dead. The pallbearers brought the casket on its wheeled bier to a dignified stop, and the organist began the introductory measures of the opening hymn. Sabine let the words sink deep into her voice, laying them against the memories she had of Beatrice Danforth. A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing Admittedly, she'd known her only a little, but that little seemed enough for the sorrow Sabine felt at the old woman's passing.

Sabine and Moe had worked on the obituary with Mrs. Like everything else the dying woman did, she planned the details well in advance. Of all the good works she might have listed, from trustee of the library and founder of the historical society, to second soprano in the Windsorville High School Glee Club, class of , patron of the small art museum, mother and grandmother, it was her ownership and love of the Palace Theatre which Beatrice wished to be her best-known legacy.

The only movie house in town. At one time, the Palace was Moose River Junction's entertainment capital. Vaudeville, live theatre productions, then, finally, simply movies. Sabine preferred it, with its full sized screen, to any multiplex she'd been in. At least at the Palace, the rococo decorations were original. And Nagy was there to make sure you took your ticket stub. Poor Nagy, a child yet in a middle-aged man's body.

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He looked somehow even more vulnerable dressed up like he was today. Sabine watched his nephew Dan lay a comforting arm across his shoulders. When Dan Smith took her hand yesterday at the wake, Sabine had felt his tiredness; layered within it, she sensed a disappointment, which felt to her a separate thing from the grief he displayed in the quick, "Thank you for coming," murmured as he held onto her hand. Noting the absence of his girlfriend last night and now at the formal service, Sabine intuited the source of this disappointment.

The locals had been all abuzz with the return of Dan Smith. And when his sylphlike girlfriend showed up now and again, the buzz became a clamor. With Moose River Junction being just to the wrong side of the popular Berkshire destinations of Lenox and Tanglewood, and down a little from the tourist-thick Mohawk Trail, there was little to attract celebrities. Karen Whitcomb, though not quite a bona fide star, was, nonetheless, as close as the town had ever gotten.

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It seemed, if you listened to the gossip in the Blue Moose, that everyone had loved her in Six Pence for Sorrow and Sir Westover's Victory, two British films that had played at the Palace several times over. Karen had that dewy quality beloved in film ingenues. Nothing hard or dirty about her. Even when she swore on-screen, she did so with a peppery charm. Frankly, Sabine didn't know what all the fuss was about. To her, Karen Whitcomb was interchangeable with any other twenty-something starlet moving up from a Broadway chorus line to her name below the title.

Well, it didn't matter what sort of actress she was; she didn't make it to her putative boyfriend's grandmother's funeral. And he looked like he could use the company. Looking at the two men alone in the front pew, Sabine hoped that they were taking comfort from the words spoken solemnly by the minister.

For the last ten years, Dan had been away. That's what they called it around here. He thought he was making a life in New York, but to these old friends, he was simply away. His life in New York seemed so removed from his small-town boyhood. The people he knew there were of the present. Scarcely anyone spoke of their lives before New York; everything was immediate and forward moving. Not like Moose River Junction, not like Gran.

Here history was a living thing, evidenced by the very plaques on the church's foyer walls, commemorating people and events no one still living remembered. As a child, his bedtime stories were drawn from family legends. Beatrice's tales of Indian kidnappings and bad blood between opposing branches of the Windsor family kept him with his head under the covers on many a night. Sometimes Dan felt as if keeping away, keeping in New York, helped lighten the weight of ancient history and modern secrets. Back within the valley, where nearly everyone knew him or his grandmother, or who his parents had been and what had happened to them, the east bore down on his shoulders like a burden.

Six months ago, Gran had conceded that she was dying. At age ninety-five, it was simply the acknowledgment that something was, indeed, greater than her drive and her controlling will. He'd gotten the call on his cell phone, in the back of a cab. Are you in the hospital? And I won't go there. The time is come for you to come home and take up the reins.

The Fortune Teller's Daughter, a novel by Susan Wilson

Every day presented a clutter of meetings and appointments leaking across the month, heedless of weekends. If he moved the site visit to very early on Saturday and begged off going with Karen to her friend's gallery opening in the Village on Saturday night, he could fly into Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, rent a car, and be in Moose River by Saturday afternoon. I'm almost ninety-six; I may not have until Saturday afternoon. There were too many problematic parts and a description of a very unpleasant incident was repeated too often.

So, I don't recommend it, but I did think it was well written. I stumbled across this book accidentally in the paperback aisle of the grocery store and thought it would be a nice change for me. I didn't realize how engrossed I would become in this entertaining and well-written tale! This is the story of Sabine Heartwood, whose feelings mirrored Dorothy Gale's in the Wizard of Oz in the belief that "there's no place to home".

The tricky part for Sabine, however, was that her only home growing up was on the road with her gypsy-esque, fortune-teller mother, Rub I stumbled across this book accidentally in the paperback aisle of the grocery store and thought it would be a nice change for me. The tricky part for Sabine, however, was that her only home growing up was on the road with her gypsy-esque, fortune-teller mother, Ruby Heartwood. It is also the story of Danford "Dan" Smith, who was reluctantly brought back home to take care of the affairs of his dying grandmother and mentally-handicapped uncle.

The story unfolds as Sabine and Dan's lives are intricately woven together in an intriguingly romantic fashion! This book was the definition of a mystical, suspenseful and, above-all, romantic search for the true meaning of "home".

The Fortune Teller's Daughter

A revelation of pure and destined love! Dec 07, Tina rated it really liked it. It contained several of the elements that I look for in a good story; the combination of romance and mystery are always a strong draw for me and this book did not disappoint. The fortune-telling element was what originally got my attention when I chose the book from the library. I would definitely recommend this book. Sep 28, Jane Stewart rated it liked it Shelves: This was an ok read. It is not a romance novel. It is about Sabine, a psychic who talks with ghosts. She meets and falls in love with Dan, but there is a conflict because she wants to stay in her home town and he travels most of the time due to his work.

Number of sex scenes: Jun 09, Danielle rated it liked it Shelves: I love Susan Wilson's Beauty, and this was an instant of wanting to read something else by this author, without really feeling attracted to the story. It's got some beautifully written lines, but it also has family secrets and mysterious happenings that aren't all that secret or mysterious. I liked it well enough, but perhaps I'm no longer the right reader for unspoken longing and characters with tragic pasts. May 01, Jennifer Worry rated it it was ok. I will admit that I was a little disappointed by this book.

The description made me think that it was going to be a lot better. It was very hard to focus on, and figure out the main plot to the story. All the charachters had way too much back story. It was like the author was just trying to come up with a bunch of filler. The constant back and forth of Sabine and Dan was annoying after awhile.

It was a constant will he or won't he, will she or won't she scenario. Not an ejoyable one though. Aug 03, Jodi rated it really liked it. What an enjoyable book. Susan Wilson has created such a beautiful picture of small town life, both the good and bad. She makes you feel like you know each of the members of the community. She does a very good job with the psychic aspect, not over dramatizing it, but not calling it a sham either.

You finish the book with both a tear in your eye and a smile on your face. Dec 23, Cindy S rated it it was ok. Sabine Heartwood has spent her life wandering with her Gypsy mother. She finally finds a home in a small Berkshire town. She can see ghosts, feel their presence and have them communicate thru her. The story revolves around a long past event of death and another event in the more recent past.

Each has a fire in common and loss.