Autumn Blue

by Karen Harter

Book Overview

An authentic tale of the bonds of family, faith, and trust. As single mother Sidney Walker struggles to save her troubled young son, she finds she is not as alone as she thinks when help comes from... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• ISBN: 073948155X
• ISBN13: 9780739481554
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Center Street
• Length: 292 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great Book

I only write reviews if I really love a book, and this book is one of my favorites that I'm telling my friends about. As I was reading the book, I kept thinking about how gifted the author is.Thanks for the new pick for our book club.

One of my top reads for 2007

Millard Bradbury is unimpressed by his new neighbours, a tired looking single mum with an unruly teenage son looking for trouble and two little girls who talk incessantly. An insatiable mole is ravaging his beautiful lawn and his daughter is angling to put him in a facility for old folk. Millard just wishes everyone would leave him in peace to complete his crosswords and vicariously win Wheel of Fortune each day. Sidney Walker is at her wits end over her son Ty's disappearance and subsequent arrest by the hard-hearted Deputy Sheriff Estrada who seems to have a personal vendetta against Ty. Sidney berates herself for breaking up with Jack, a man Ty respected and wonders if he will take her back and provide the stability and role model Ty desperately needs. Each of these people's lives will become entwined in ways unimaginable being transformed by the power of love and forgiveness and the pursuit of integrity and purpose. Autumn Blue is a powerful read, holding me captive from the first page and moving me to tears on more than one occasion. Karen Harter has created genuine and fascinating characters shaped by the loves and losses of their past and present. Karen enlightens the reader to their individual stories with consummate timing. This book is a true love story, not only in the romantic sense which is exquisitely done, but also by illuminating the joy of family and the sacrificial love of friendship that is unexpected yet completely transforming. A beautiful tale that I will read again and again.

The epitome of great Christian fiction

Autumn Blue by Karen Harter is what every Christian fiction book should aspire to be. It's a terrific story about life that has a couple of characters talk about or think about God with no sermons or preaching. Sidney Walker feels lost. Her son Ty truly is lost; he's been missing for several days after being caught shoplifting from the local grocery store. Sidney is struggling to take care of her three children all on her own. Millard Bradbury, her elderly neighbor, is filling his days with crossword puzzles and visits from his busy daughter. Through a series of circumstances, Millard ends up babysitting for Ty while Sidney is at work, and everyone's lives are changed by what comes next. Harter creates believable characters filled with flaws and smart dialogue. When police officer Alex Estrada enters the scene, the reader can't help but relate to Sidney's anger and frustration at his condescending attitude. The book is filled with gentle lessons: how we pray to God for solutions, and then take the situation in our own hands rather than wait on him; how our head and our heart can want two completely different things, how our elderly still have much to offer if the opportunity is given, how anger and regret can fill us up until we have nothing to give the world but anger. Harter's description of a small town is dead-on, and the character's growth is realistic. What the book shows best without shoving it down the reader's throat is how God makes all things work to his purpose.

Family First

Sidney is a single mother of three kids, who has just moved into a new home. However she can't fully enjoy their new surroundings because her teenage son, Ty, has run away. Unfortunately he has a police record due to a robbery and the police are onto him. Sidney believes her son is innocent and does her hardest to make him turn to the right path no matter what it takes even with the deputy sheriff trying to vie for her attention. Meanwhile her neighbor Millard is an elderly man who's daughter insists that he is too old to take care of himself. Trying to prove her wrong, against his wishes, he soon is swept up in the affairs of Sidney's family and becomes a surrogate grandfather. This makeshift family learns to bond together as they go through a time of learning to trust and have faith. I thought this was an excellent book. The story is so well developed that I felt like I was watching a movie instead of just reading the story. The lead characters were all very real and I could understand why all of them acted the way they did. Sidney is just a concerned mother who wants what's best for her son. You feel her frustration with trying to understand Ty and her worry when he keeps running away. Her story about finding a father figure with Jack was funny and sad. Ty is an angry teenager but you can sense why he keeps rebelling. He's not obnoxious but you can feel his anger and pain. I really liked Millard. He reminded me of the brothers in Secondhand Lions. He was crusty at first but eventually caved into the family that had showed him the affection his own daughter didn't. I didn't like Alex at first, especially with the way he barged into Sidney's bedroom. However his character too had a story behind the actions that helped to explain who he really was. There are scenes that make you laugh and then you turn the page and want to cry. The story is not preachy at all yet still puts out a message that family and trust is important. The only problem I had with this book was that Sidney had named her youngest daughter Sissy. I don't know if this name is that popular but it sounds degrading to be called a "sissy" all the time. It makes the character sound really weak since that word is used as an insult most of the time. But since Sidney's daughters are mostly in the background, this isn't such a big deal. This is the second novel for Karen Harter and she has done a superb job with this book. I highly recommend it for fans of women's fiction who enjoy a moving story with realistic characters.