The Tender Bonds
by Ute Carbone
Mainstream (PG13)
Women's Fiction
Turquoise Morning Press
There comes a moment when the past we’ve left behind draws attention to itself and demands that we come to terms with it. For Patty Dykstra, a woman who has long led an unassuming life, that moment comes after her aunt dies. Among a life’s worth of things, Patty finds unopened cards from her father, a man that she hasn’t seen since she was six years old.
Patty is compelled to return to a small town in upstate New York to find the man who used to call her Star Shine, a man she barely remembers. The Tender Bonds is the story of Patty’s life- altering journey, of the faith and hope that grow in the meanest of places, and of what it means to be truly home.
Sometimes the end is a new beginning
What REVIEWERS Are Saying...
Patty’s life-changing journey isn’t a syrupy-sweet one, but the author paints it with sweet moments woven in and with brilliant imagery. At points, Carbone’s writing almost sings off of the page, in notes that range from discordant to melodious. 4 out of 4 stars
- Online Book Club
Beautiful words, elegantly strung together, this is a wonderful example of writing from the heart reaching towards the hearts of even the most calloused readers.
- Tome Tender Book Reviews
EXCERPT
He played with the cupboard door before shutting it. “Lenore worked at the Fulton Elementary School. She was the school librarian.” I sat down. The light from the living room shadowed his face. “After…at the service. The teachers from the school and some of the kids and their parents, they came. They brought these balloons. A whole bunch of balloons. Judy, Lenore’s mother, said later that she didn’t like them. That they felt too celebratory and we’d just lost…but I thought they were beautiful. I remember when they released them, all these bright colors heading for the clouds. I remember hoping Lenore and the kids were like those balloons. That floating up to heaven was like that. I wished I could float away, just be unanchored. Just head out, unanchored.”
When he looked at me, his eyes drove a pin through my heart. He put his hand to my cheek, his fingers lingering light against my skin for a minute, and then he walked out. I heard his footsteps on the stairs, and I didn’t try to follow him.
I should have left. My head was telling me to go, an angry bee buzzing ‘get out, get out while you can.’ But my heart said otherwise. My heart, heavy as the darkness in that room, said ‘stay.’
ABOUT Ute Carbone
Award winning author Ute Carbone pronounces her first name Oohtah, but doesn't spell it that way. She lives with her husband in Southern NH, where she spends her days drinking coffee, eating chocolate, walking in the woods, and dreaming up stories.
CONNECT with Ute
Web page: http://www.utecarbone.com/
Blog http://www.utecarbone.com/inside-the-writers-garret
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