The Inheritance of Beauty - eBook

Harmony House assisted-care residents George and Maggie Jacobs have known each other for almost 80 years and lived, most of that time, in peace, despite Maggie's recent stroke. But when an oddly familiar new resident moves in, they're forced to confront the haunting events of their distant past. As children in 1920s Levy, S.C., their idyllic youth was interrupted by the arrival of a mysterious magician and his laconic son. They soon realize that he's there for a reason, and the dark secret he carries will leave one person dead, a house burned down, and all of their lives forever altered. Though George has lived with his long buried past, he decides, at 80, that it's time to return to South Carolina and face the truth. Christian author Seitz (Saving Cicadas) easily inhabits her elderly characters and deftly juggles a large cast, but she's no stranger to sentiment or hyperbole, and the former tragedies haunting her characters don't carry the life-altering drama with which they're alluded to ("Eventually, it destroyed everything I held most dear"), resulting in a novel that is equally saccharine and anticlimactic. (Feb.) Copyright 2011 Reed Business Information.

Nicole Seitz's The Inheritance of Beauty is a story of restoration and healing. George Jacobs's world is collapsing again. George knows he needs to make peace with his past before he dies, and the only way to do that is to go back to the town he’d hoped never to see again. Psalms 71:20 fits this book: "Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up" (NIV).

Different characters narrate the book at different points, and the narratives are a combination of flashbacks and current episodes. Each character has a strong voice, and the author brings everything together in a comprehensive whole at the very end, masterfully tying up the loose ends in a bittersweet manner. A single most unforgettable experience is difficult to identify; Seitz grabs the reader by the heart at the beginning of the book and doesn’t let go until the end.

This beautifully engaging story is sure to please inspie readers. Told through alternating points of view in the present and 1929, the tale unfolds beautifully and is a gorgeous picture of love and family. 4 stars - Romantic Times

George Jacobs is adjusting to life in a nursing home. His wife Maggie is completely unresponsive to everyone. George has just received news that his cancer is terminal. To add insult to injury, a dark past he’d rather forget is coming back to haunt him in the form of a giant picture of a younger Maggie, letters from her long-lost brother Ash, and the appearance of an old acquaintance who destroyed everything they knew the last time they met him. George takes Maggie and a ghost, Joe, back to the town where he and Maggie were born to confront their past and finally to lay it to rest. George is funny, but his love for Maggie is breathtakingly powerful. He and the other characters in the book become real people, and their story is utterly captivating from beginning to end.

This book has the potential to become a literary favorite. Women teenaged and older will love it, though it is not strictly "chick lit." Those looking for a well-written book with three-dimensional characters and a spectacular message should add this book to their to-read lists. – Becky Blomenberg, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com

“[The Inheritance of Beauty] gives us pause as we consider the road ahead, and it also makes us thankful for the world we have today. Any story that causes that much reflection is one to be appreciated.” -- The Huffington Post

“Seitz grabs the reader by the heart at the beginning of the book and doesn’t let go until the end.” -- ChristianBookPreviews.com