Review: Interrupted: A Life Beyond Words by Rachel Coker

Rachel Coker. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012. 247 pp.
Rating: Worthy

In rural Tennessee, ensconced in a world of Emily Dickinson, mythology, and piano lessons, thirteen-year old Alcyone "Allie" Everly cares for her cancer-stricken mother. Without a friend, save the irksome Sam Carroll, the boy who's always around, Allie is confined to her mother's introverted, fantasy world; until disaster strikes tearing it apart. Allie is then shipped off to Maine to the home of Beatrice Lovell leaving everything she knows behind only hours after the funeral. Forewarned by her mother to, "...look out for yourself and don't let your guard down. Don't ever forget your roots or your common sense," Allie subconsciously creates thick walls barring anything of her new life to creep in, especially her adoptive mother. Yet, it isn't until Sam's unexpected arrival in Maine that Allie's defenses begin to unravel.