Mrs. Saint and the Defectives
Fiction
Lake Union Publishing
August 1, 2017
Kindle Edition
338
Amazon
August 1, 2017
Critically acclaimed author Julie Lawson Timmer returns with a tale of how community can heal the brokenness in all of us.
Markie, a fortysomething divorcée who has suffered a humiliating and very public fall from marital, financial, and professional grace, moves, along with her teenage son, Jesse, to a new town, hoping to lick her wounds in private. But Markie and Jesse are unable to escape the attention of their new neighbor Mrs. Saint, an irascible, elderly New European woman who takes it upon herself, along with her ragtag group of “defectives,” to identify and fix the flaws in those around her, whether they want her to or not.
What Markie doesn’t realize is that Mrs. Saint has big plans for the divorcée’s broken spirit. Soon, the quirky yet endearing woman recruits Markie to join her eccentric community, a world where both hidden truths and hope unite them. But when Mrs. Saint’s own secrets threaten to unravel their fragile web of healing, it’s up to Markie to mend these wounds and usher in a new era for the “defectives”—one full of second chances and happiness.
I thought this to be a well written story and very engaging. I thought I had a pretty good idea of where the story was going. I was wrong. I didn’t see that ending coming from a mile away! Kudos for that, Julie Lawson Timmer!
The pacing was a bit slow for me, but then again, this was not meant to be a thriller. I enjoyed the characters very much. They were the highlight of this novel, in my opinion.
There seemed to be a nice – albeit slow – build up to the climax, but then something unexpected happens, and the story (and climax) is radically changed. I just thought it could have been done a bit better.
