Sandra Byrd: Heirlooms

 By Kelly Bridgewater

Answering a woman’s desperate call for help, young Navy widow Helen Devries opens her Whidbey Island home as a refuge to Choi Eunhee. As they bond over common losses and a delicate, potentially devastating secret, their friendship spans the remainder of their lives.

After losing her mother, Cassidy Quinn spent her childhood summers with her gran, Helen, at her farmhouse. Nourished by her grandmother’s love and encouragement, Cassidy discovers a passion that she hopes will bloom into a career. But after Helen passes, Cassidy learns that her home and garden have fallen into serious disrepair. Worse, a looming tax debt threatens her inheritance. Facing the loss of her legacy and in need of allies and ideas, Cassidy reaches out to Nick, her former love, despite the complicated emotions brought by having him back in her life.

Cassidy inherits not only the family home but a task, spoken with her grandmother’s final breaths: ask Grace Kim―Eunhee’s granddaughter―to help sort through the contents of the locked hope chest in the attic. As she and Grace dig into the past, they unearth their grandmothers’ long-held secret and more. Each startling revelation reshapes their understanding of their grandmothers and ultimately inspires the courage to take risks and make changes to own their lives.

Set in both modern-day and midcentury Whidbey Island, Washington, this dual-narrative story of four women―grandmothers and granddaughters―intertwines across generations to explore the secrets we keep, the love we pass down, and the heirlooms we inherit from a well-lived life.

 

My Thoughts:

Heirlooms by Sandra Byrd captured the importance of a life lived well. The items and time we invest in our families while we are alive is the most important legacy that anyone can leave behind. A faith in God. A cookbook with written recipes. As for me, I kept all my Daddy’s journals and his books that he has written side notes into. Sometimes reading these, it reminds me of my father. Helen and Eunhee, the women, who lived in 1958 formed an unusual friendship where they learned from each other aspects to make them into stronger individuals. Sometimes I wish I lived in 1958 because times were a little slower, less internet, more education, better music, and nicer to your neighbors, so I was interested in a story that took place partly in this time period. As for the second part with Cassidy and Grace, their story took place in the present age. Cassidy just buried her grandmother, who was Helen. Readers will see her reactions to the land and the heirlooms that her grandmother left for her. Overall, Heirlooms by Sandra Byrd is a touching story about making every moment count with everyone that we encounter. A nice feel good story.

I received a complimentary copy Heirlooms by Sandra Byrd from Tyndale Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating:  4 out of 5 stars

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