Author:       JoAnna Scott

Publisher:    Little Brown/Hachette

ISBN:          978-0-316-05165-1

Website:      Hachette Books

 Type:         Fiction

Pages:        400 Hardcover

Purchase:    $16.49 @ Amazon.com (HERE)

The Story

“On a summer day in 1946, Sally Werner, the precocious daughter of hardscrabble Pennsylvania farmers, accepts her cousin Daniel’s invitation to ride his new motorcycle.  Like so much of what follows in Sally’s life, it’s a decision driven by impulse and a thirst for adventure, a decision with dramatic and far-reaching consequences.

Soon Sally abandons her newborn baby and her home.  Fueled in equal measures by her eternal optimism and her mercurial moods, she embarks on an odyssey of self-creation that spans six decades, the story of which she entrusts to only one person: her granddaughter and namesake.  It’s an uncommon legacy that young Sally believes until her father – a man she has never known – enters her life and offers another story altogether, forcing her to uncover the truth of her grandmother’s secret history.”

(Above excerpt is from the back cover of Follow Me)

The Review

This story swept me away into Sally’s life and mind.  The story flowed like the river that ties the characters of this saga.  The writing engulfed me.  This story is one that I will never forget and am deeply grateful to JoAnna Scott for writing. 

Scott is the author of nine books.  Of these nine books, one was a finalist for the Pulitizer Prize and two were finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award.  If these books are anything like Follow Me, I can certainly understand why.  In my never-to-be-humble opinion, this book should be nominated, as well.

Follow Me is an epic tale of women and the hard choices that they are often faced with.  This is the heartbreaking story of what happens to families when adversity infiltrates them.  This is a memoir of love that was never meant to be lost, but was stolen from the lovers.  This is a woman’s search for redemption for a life that she couldn’t possibly replace with other choices; the outcomes were destined and unavoidable.  This is a tragic song of a man who lost what should have been his.  All of this is told by a granddaughter who pieces together the remnants of fantasy with the pieces truth searching to be found.

I have, very rarely, been impacted to the point in a review in which I recommend a book to this degree.  The book is being released on April 22nd.  For the price of $16.49 for a hardcover edition of this book, I highly recommend that you pre-order this book from Amazon and be ready for a read that is certain to make your “Best of 2009 List.”  It has certainly made my top ten!   You’ll read it, review it, and write me and tell me… “Yep, you were right!  It’s a great book.”  I promise… no “I told you so’s!”

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

Is there any doubt, whatsover, that I am going to rate this book a 10 OUT OF 10?  Of course, not!  I deserves it!  I only wish our bookclub read hardcovers, because this will make A GREAT BOOK CLUB discussion.

My heartfelt thanks to Miriam and Hachette for this amazing read. 

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