The Greatest Gift

This story is quite an unusual one and definitely kept me guessing to the end. At first it was hard to make out who was who in a large list of characters, but once I got them straight it was fine. Also the transition from chapter one to two is a leap forward of about ten or fifteen years, and details how Godfrey came to be injured in boyhood.

Margery is the heroine of the story and Hugh Dallas the hero, though the two aren't a romantic couple, which made for a nice POV difference. Both Margery and Hugh work through the issues surrounding Margery's promised marriage from a different point of reference, Margery from the emotional and Hugh as a journalist. This leads to an interesting and unique novel.

The suspense builds in the last half as an anonymous letter-writer terrorizes Godfrey and threatens the family. Hugh discovering who it is at about 75% doesn't lessen any of the suspense while Godfrey's grip on reason wavers dangerously. I was left in suspense right up to the final chapter.

Content: infrequent swears, one scene of animal abuse (a dog)