When Light Breaks - by Patti Callahan Henry (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan Henry delivers a novel that explores the power of lasting love through the connected stories of two women from opposite sides of the sea.

Twenty-seven-year-old Kara Larson is bogged down in the stress of planning her elaborate wedding to a professional golfer. Still, to fulfill the requirements of the Palmetto Pointe Junior Society, she makes time in her busy schedule to visit an elderly woman at a nursing home facility. Soon she finds herself mesmerized by the singsong Irish lilt of ninety-six-year-old Maeve Mahoney as Maeve recounts the rambling story of her first love back in Ireland. Or, Kara begins to wonder, is she really retelling an ancient tale of myth and legend? Waiting for the story to unfold in bits and pieces, and trying to discern the underlying truth, Kara is drawn in--and driven to remember her own first love: childhood neighbor Jack Sullivan. Gradually she realizes that before she embarks on her new life, she must find out how her own story--with Jack--will end.

"About all the things that make us worthy as human beings--integrity, honesty, and living the life you are meant to live....A triumph!"--Dorothea Benton Frank

"A passionate, unforgettable novel of self-discovery, regret, and the illuminating power of love."--Mary Alice Monroe

Review Quotes

Praise for Patti Callahan Henry and her novels

"A Southern woman's journey into truth. An emotionally intense, beautiful, and unforgettable novel. I loved it."--Robyn Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Virgin River novels

"Patti Callahan Henry's writing is as lush and magical as the Lowcountry she loves."--Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times bestselling author of A Lowcountry Wedding

"The sea sings in every syllable."--Anne Rivers Siddons, New York Times bestselling author of The Girls of August

"A lyrical exploration of love and longing, secrets and suspicion, and family and friendship."―Mary Kay Andrews, New York Times bestselling author of The Weekenders

"Patti Callahan Henry asks the big, equivocal questions about what it means to be a mother, a child, a family, and the answers she finds in And Then I Found You will surprise you, provoke you, and rearrange your heart."--Jacquelyn Mitchard, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Two If by Sea

"This is everything you expect from Patti Callahan Henry--lyrical writing, characters worth rooting for, a sure-footed belief in the power of goodness--plus a twisty plot that will keep the pages turning long into the night."--Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of The Opposite of Everyone

"Patti Callahan Henry understands the delicate balance of power inside a marriage."--Sara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of At the Water's Edge

"This tale of a Lowcountry woman's reblossoming will touch your heart and make you wonder about long-forgotten possibilities waiting to be rediscovered in your own family and soul."--The Charleston Post and Courier (SC)

About the Author

Patti Callahan Henry is a New York Times bestselling author whose novels include The House at Water's End, The Idea of Love, The Stories We Tell, And Then I Found You, Coming Up for Air, The Perfect Love Song, Driftwood Summer, The Art of Keeping Secrets, Between the Tides, When Light Breaks, Where the River Runs, and Losing the Moon. Short-listed for the Townsend Prize for Fiction, and nominated multiple times for the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) Book Award for Fiction, Patti is a frequent speaker at luncheons, book clubs, and women's groups. She lives with her husband and three children in Mountain Brook, Alabama, and is working on her next novel.