As you know, I was enthusiastic about the first book in this series. Indeed, I was so enthusiastic that I immediately purchased and read the second volume in the series. It took me some time to write this. And it took even longer forit to be posted as I am a bit ahead of myself in creating blog posts. Neither delay should be read as indicative of my views!
Written by Ellery Adams, this second book in the series is entitled The Whispered Word - and is well worth the read. As you may recall from my initial review of volume 1 in the series (entitled The Secret, Book and Scone SocIety reviewed here in case you need a more lengthy refresher) the characters here are a group of women, each struggling with trusting others due to painful secrets from their past. One survived her particular trauma through immersing herself in the healing power of books. She owns a bookstore and prescribes (as it were) books to those who come to her in pain. Another Creates “comfort scones” which take seriously the baker’s intuitions about those for whom she creates them - and are truly comforting. Together these two - and another frIend - discoverone another and re-learn how to trust and care for others.
Series entry 2 takes up a young woman who arrives on the scene at the end of book one, pursuing her secrets and finding a way for her to remake her life. Like the other women’s secrets, we are reminded of the hard things about life - both the mistakes we make & their negative impact on others (both strangers and those we love) and the awful thing some people perpetrate upon others. What healing is and how one finds it can seem like an unduly heavy or didactic theme, and yet Adams accomplishes this in a fairly light but meaningful way and also is straightforward about the many moral/ethical dilemmas we face each day. One side theme which does appear here is the ways creativity can emerge from pain - and on the rare occasion help one move past it.
I know I have not said much over there about plot or setting - and Adams offers some nuances here that are of interest. What has been memorable for me in this book and it’s predecessor is something more abstract and, perhaps, more important. I’m not sure anyone else would find these books as useful as I do - but I do recommend giving them a try if you are in need of a comfort scone or bibliotherapy or a group of allies who help you move forward.
