Holding Hands (A Town Called Harmony) - A Book Review

chillibreeze writer — Archana Subramanian

Have you ever entered ‘fairy land’ after you grew up? Wondered how you could relive those days of make believe and fantasy? Well the answer is, if you really want to do it, do it Holding Hands. Jo Anne Cassity takes each one of us to the land of harmony, a land of perfection, a land where nothing can go wrong…

Revolving around the Kansas City are wooers of love, expectant mothers, the sisters of gossip and onlookers. Whitaker writes ‘Harmony Sentinel’ a weekly tale, which talks about the present scenario in Harmony and also suggests what might happen. For Elnora Perry, the knights and ladies of yesteryears spark her daydreams of finding a real-life hero of her very own. Ransom Riley and Russell Whitaker are both in awe of Elnora. They both wonder at her composition and calm collected nature. The way she manages six kids (no not hers but her brother’s and also the prime reason why she is in Harmony) leaves them with loads of questions- answers, which they are compelled to seek… individually!

Life moves a little slower in Harmony. In fact slow enough to hear every whisper. Elnora Perry is busy and happy and in the meantime she lets her heart yearn for Ransom Riley but when he leaves Harmony she is left heartbroken. Well or so she thinks! The quest for the author of Harmony Sentinel who is anonymous and very enticing weaves her life in a bond, which never breaks. Maise and Minnie, the two sisters add fuel to her search for her own identity. An identity, which she discovers as Harmony Sentinel, unravels week after week in a tale of knights and the queen in power and search of her true love. She pursues this search and the numerous characters reveal their identities to add to the story and the mood. Take for example Alexander Evans, the newspaperman. He runs the Harmony Sentinel with his daughter Samantha. During the course of their search she figures out that the author is anonymous and that he leaves his story very carefully near the door every week. Others like Jake Sutherland, Lottie Mc Gee and Zeke Gallagher are minor characters but certainly play their parts well to keep the story going and to give it its depth.

The story takes its own twists and turns. Things do get complicated with mistaken identities and misunderstandings. But Harmony being the epitome of love, joy and peace things get sorted out and run smoothly again. The best part is when Ransom comes back and proposes to Nora, now her new name as ‘he’ calls her.

What moved me the most was the unity and understanding among the folks and the way they sort out situations. During the storm when one of the kids is reported missing, the extensive search carried out and the way they track him down was truly remarkable.

The end remains quite a mystery until Elnora figures out her true love.

Holding Hands is certainly a well-written fantasy that gives room for thought. The characters can be identified with and the story retains interest till the very end. So find out Elnora’s true love and who this anonymous author is in 'A Town called Harmony'.

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—About our writer:

Archana says, "Life for me is a book full of beautiful chapters and I satiate my being by living these chapters to the fullest. My passions include reading writing and learning life's lessons with my little one."

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