"Secrets of the Heart", a novel set in Framingham, Mass.

 

Comments on my first book, a novel set in my hometown...examining our lives no matter where we live...the essential lessons we learn from our humanity.

 

Hi Madlyn,

 

  Been meaning to get back to you....Truly enjoyed your book! Many books are interesting and/or entertaining but few move you to think about your own life. The people you illuminate and the feelings you invoke are clearly not limited to one era but you gave your readers a taste of a time documented in past works but not personalized as in your book.

Funny, as I started your book, the TV was on and it was a "cold case" episode of a woman who went missing in 1938 during the "War of the worlds" broadcast.

I was taken with the references of communication with loved ones who have gone ahead. I do believe feelings and signs are given that address our memory and are a way of keeping in touch.

I believe the key to reaching a readers imagination is examining where a life turned on personal decision and in retrospect, evaluating where it might have gone.

People touch your life everyday. It's a revelation to touch back.

I was interested in your opinion of media manipulation. I was recently on a cruise that offered a class on "perception management" This was based upon taking "out of context" information heard on cable news. My friends who attended we're taken in but I suspect if I had gone I would have left before I enlightened them on the dangers of having their perception managed! :)

As I read about the people that defined Meggie's life, I remembered a movie I once saw who appeared each time a soul was collected to ask one question. What was the one thing that made you happy? Helen Keller wrote that happiness is found thru fidelity to a worthwhile purpose.. Is this true and are regrets only unfulfilled dreams and desires. (or a reaction to the harsh realities of life)

I wouldn't remove any of Meggie's realities and I found myself interested in how the era made decisions more complicated compared to other eras.

Your book takes the reader to a place everyone goes eventually, but should examine more often. So many people get caught up in the mundane aspects of daily life and never examine the "Secrets of the heart"

 

Linda Hayes