I can't express how wonderful this book is. It's poetic, lyrical, and heartbreaking with flashes of the great joy that is realized in the end. I have three copies of this book. One I keep in the house (a reading copy only), one in my library, and one in my garage. I'm trying to talk myself into posting the third copy. I enjoyed this book that much! It's in my top 5 favorites of all of her books. The other four are: White Magnolia, A Lesson in Loving (I read 25 years ago and never forgot), Blue Lotus, and The Awakening Flame.