The Silver Suitcase by Terrie Todd

9781503950498

364 Pages
Publisher: Waterfall Press
Released Date: January 26, 2016

Fiction, General Fiction (Adult), Christian, Historical Fiction

Benita is a ten-year-old girl, and her grandmother is her best friend. She receives a school assignment to write a paper on World War II. As she is researching, her grandmother, Cornelia, reminisces back to 1939 when she was seventeen.

The story then jumps to the present time, Benita is married with two children. Her husband, Ken, is unemployed and does not seem to be in a hurry to find a job. When Cornelia, now in her 80s, has a stroke and dies, Benita is devasted. A week later, her employers are in a fatal car accident. Now her future is on hold. She has no real job experience, did not finish community college and now no income for her family.

The story is mainly about the lives of Cornelia and Benita. It has a steady pace, the characters are developed, and it is written in the third person point of view. There are bible quotes and mentions of Christianity, but it was not overwhelming. I enjoyed the bond between granddaughter and grandmother. It reminded me of my relationship with my grandma. It is a lovely book for anyone that likes to read generational fiction.

Secrets from years ago lead to answers today for Benita. A riveting read.
Many thanks to Waterfall Press and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a beautifully written time slip novel. I liked the world building and felt myself totally captivated by the story. The author paints pictures with words that transported me to different times and places.

What a lovely, romantic, emotionally charged, sentimental tale of historic fiction. I enjoyed the underlying theme of redemption and hope. I found the writing to be every bit as beautiful as the cover.

“The Silver Suitcase” warmed my heart and reminded me that you need to hold on to hope, because there is always more going on in people’s lives than is visible and that God has a way of shining the very brightest in our darkest moments.

Lovely novel about how to get it right when it gets all wrong. How to find and carry hope. How to have faith.

Cornelia had always seemed to have it together. Beloved grandmother, mother and friend, she had always been a blessing in everybody else´s life. So she is dearly missed after her passing. When her granddaughter Benita starts to read her diaries left for her in the silver suitcase with several other keepsakes, she is quite surprised to find some unexpected layers and secrets in her Gram´s life. And these secrets still can influence Benita´s life, her mother´s life and much, much more lives, too.

This is wise, lovely novel about the faith tested, pain endured and the promises fulfilled. God´s ways are different than ours, and pain is still sharp and unexpected (and unjust), but we are taken care of. This is the message this book offers, and it offers it well. The authoress, I believe, knows what she is talking about when she is talking about pain and faith. These are no words of vain homily, there is something like experience and truth personally known to back them up.

Read this if you need some hope, when the fulfilling of the promise seems to be far away, when you are burdened - or not. This is a too beautiful novel to be missed up!