Does anyone make it through their teenage years without doing at least one thing they regret? Not the kind of regret from forgetting to turn in a homework assignment, I’m talking about the kind of thing you want to keep hidden from the rest of the world.
If you’re lucky, the mistakes you made didn’t have lasting consequences…
But for everyone of us that screwed up royally and then got to move on like nothing ever happened (hopefully after learning a lesson to avoid repeating the mistake), there’s another of us who is haunted by our choice(s). Life has been changed forever. There is no escape. You can move away for a fresh start, but the secret life left behind will never really let you go.
That’s what happened to Perla in A Tapestry of Secrets by Sarah Loudin Thomas.
After keeping her secret for sixty years, “Perla knew she’d been forgiven and redeemed long ago and had thought there would never be a need to revisit her shame,” but she’s worried about her granddaughter, Ella, and realizes that telling what happened back then could help her.
Sounds simple enough. Just call up Ella, spill the beans, and life is all peaches and roses, right?
Not quite…
Perla suffers a stroke that robs her of speech before she’s able to tell Ella anything. It’s especially frustrating because Ella decides to stay in West Virginia to take care of her grandmother while she recovers.
Slowly, her ability to talk improves and she’s actually excited to share her secret, but another stroke causes even more problems.
While Perla’s unable to speak, she’s still sharp as a tack! When a developer comes to town buying up the property all around the church, many members of the small congregation, including Ella, are determined to not let the church go. But, Perla sees it as a good thing. After all, “sometimes a good dose of trouble was exactly what folks needed.”
When I started reading the book, I had no idea that it’s actually the third book in the Appalachian Blessings series. Thankfully, the book easily stands alone and doesn’t seem like a series book at all!
I love the strong female characters in the story and the way there’s constantly something to keep you interested and needing to know what’s going to happen next. I’d recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for an encouraging story of love and forgiveness.
Jess Combs 
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