“There are thoughts which are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees.”-Victor Hugo
On a lark I entered a contest on a similar site to Storybuzz called Shereads.org. And was pleasantly surprised to find myself the winner and recipient of two autographed books and a high quality box of chocolates. I was instantly drawn to the cover of one novel titled Watch Over Me by Christa Parrish. It depicted a sweet baby staring directly at the reader over the shoulder of a woman. Cheek to cheek with the baby, the woman’s hair in a ponytail, lent an air of fragility to the woman’s exposed back and shoulders.
The book opens when Deputy Benjamin Patil, local law enforcement and soldier who survived the Afghanistan war with the loss of his toes and his best friend finds an abandoned baby girl only hours old in a plastic grocery bag by the side of the river.
He and his wife Abbi, who are unable to have children, are chosen to be foster parents for her. But, their home is filled with stress and disagreement and may not be the ideal home for this baby. Between the tension of Benjamin’s trauma while serving in Afghanistan and his pacifist, hippie, vegan wife’s struggle with an eating disorder and her helplessness in the face of so much wrong between them.
Their lives intersect with Matthew, a deaf teenager, who suffers from several medical issues and comes from a troubled family. As Abbi and Benjamin continue to take care of the baby, more and more pain is revealed and their marriage struggles to survive.
“He heard Abbi come out of the bedroom, the swollen door opening with a sticky pop. Everything swelled in the heat. Problems. Fears. Sins. All puffed with humidity and ready to rain out with the slightest change in air pressure.”
Silvia, the abandoned baby brings a purpose into the Patil’s life. Named for a Shakespeare’s line, “Who is Silvia? What is she, that all our swains commend her? Holy, fair, and wise is she; the heaven such grace did lend her, that she might admired be.” As baby Silvia brings Ben and Abbi together in a common cause, they soon learn that she’s only a bandage for their lurking problems. And they are forced to ask themselves, if they lose Silvia, will their marriage survive?
Parenting is explored in depth in this story. From Ben’s immigrant parents; To Matthew and his cousins being raised fatherless; Through Silvia’s abandonment and Abbi’s understanding of her dysfunction parent relationship.
Matthew is a precious character and carrying too much on his shoulders in this story. If I talk as though they are real people, it is because Parrish made them seem so to me as I read their stories. Caring for his young cousins as almost a father figure, while navigating through dialysis, he comes into the Patil’s life to mow the lawn and care for Silvia when Abbi does her pottery. A strong believer and a math whiz, it is he who must figure out the most difficult equation in the story, who should ultimately parent Silvia.
“In pi he saw the reflection of God. Pi was constant, always the same – today, tomorrow, and forever. It was irrational, like the cross, foolishness to those who didn’t believe. It was transcendental; no finite sequence of operations on integers could ever create it. It never ended.”
The book takes on some heavy issues. Subjects like love, marriage, family, the church, forgiveness, identity and redemption are woven throughout this intoxicating story. Though it has many bleak moments, the story ends hopeful and personal. The reader fully invested not only in the characters but the ability of God to redeem the most unlikely situation…perhaps one in their own life.
GENRE: Realistic Fiction
