WHAT MATTERS MOST

Author: Luanne Rice ISBN: 9780553805338 7/2007 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: BANTAM

Sister Bernadette Ignatius has returned to Ireland in the company of Tom Kelly to search for the past—and the son—they left behind. For it was here that these two long-ago lovers spent a season of magic before Bernadette’s calling led her to a vocation as Mother Superior at Star of the Sea Academy on the sea-tossed Connecticut shore. For Tom, Bernadette’s choice meant giving up his fortune and taking the job as caretaker at Star of the Sea, where he could be close to the woman he could no longer have but whom he never stopped loving. And while one miracle drew them apart, another is about to bring them together again. For somewhere in Dublin a young man named Seamus Sullivan is also on a search, dreaming of being reunited with his own first love, the only “family” he’s ever known. They’d been inseparable growing up together at St. Augustine’s Children’s Home, until Kathleen Murphy’s parents claimed her and she vanished across the sea to America. Now, in a Newport mansion, that very girl, grown to womanhood, works as a maid and waits with a faith that defies all reason for the miracle that will bring back the only boy she’s ever loved. That miracle is at hand—but like most miracles, it can come only after the darkest of nights and the deepest of heartbreaks. For life can be as precarious as a walk along a cliff, and its greatest rewards reached only by those who dare to risk everything…for what matters most.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

In Luann Rice's heart touching story, WHAT MATTERS MOST, a couple go in search of their child that was given up for adoption many years ago. Throughout this story, compelling characters stir strong emotions as they remember the path that led them to where are today. Love, misunderstandings, jealousy and intrigue have all played a part in their lives. Readers that enjoyed Rice's SANDCASTLES will be pleased to learn more about Sister Bernadette and Tom Kelly, the man that loves her.

At first I found the story very slow and quite boring, but I have to admit I have not read SANDCASTLES. This may be what was missing. After I was fifty pages into the story, I noticed it taking a turn and becoming more interesting as evils of the past become revealed. The more the characters learn of the past of their child, the more determined they are to find him. By this part in the story, my curiosity is in fully engaged and I am anxious to learn the whole truth. What matters most is not a happy story filled with love and smiles, but the difficult journey that makes a person think.

The child that Sister Bernadette and Tom Kelly share is now a man that has lived a difficult life. My curiosity held me captive as I waited to learn how he would take meeting the parents that gave him up. Things could have gone many ways and I found what happened very believable. This is a story that had me in tears, but in the end I was once again smiling. There is one part of the story that I loved especially. It comes with the quote, "Be ready".

The love between Sister Bernadette and Tom Kelly stirred mixed feelings. I felt sorry for Tom, being in love with a nun, a woman that could never be his. Here is a man that has loved a woman with his whole heart for what seems like forever, but her first love is the church. There is a strain between the two of them because of this. What is sad is the fact that Bernadette loves Tom and it is obvious. I found myself wanting them to find a way to be happy together.

With many twist and turns, WHAT MATTERS MOST is still a story of love. It is not the passionate, all encompassing love, but the kind of love that lasts forever. Though this is not the type of story that I would normally read, I found that I did respect it. I found that the visions Sister Bernadette experienced were very interesting, and there are a few ghostly visits that made this story one that will leave the reader with a warm feeling of love.

Anita Hartsell