BOOK REVIEW: The Language of Sycamores

Lisa Wingate is a writer of unusual heartfelt warmth and honesty.  Her THE LANGUAGE OF SYCAMORES is certainly no exception to this.

Karen Sommerfield has just been the victim of downsizing from her high powered job. The job had allowed her to distance herself from a recent miscarriage, a bout with cancer and her marriage to an airline pilot who is rarely home. Now that she is jobless and facing the fact that the cancer may have reoccurred, she decides to go home to the farm in Missouri in search of herself.

Her sister Kate, with her husband and two young children, now lives on the farm that had belonged to their Grandma Rose. Karen and Kate have not had a close relationship. One has been busy getting ahead in the corporate world in Boston; the other has been living on a farm raising children. The rivalry has been of long standing due to a father who had high ideals for both girls. Karen has not been back since Grandma Rose’s funeral. Karen rediscovers her lost love of music, a love that her father had made her abandon to pursue a more lucrative career. She also finds Dell, a young neglected girl who says that Grandma Rose still talks to her. With the help of Dell, music, the call of her home memories, and the soft, secret language of the sycamore trees, Karen discovers herself and some very surprising answers to life’s questions.

Actually THE LANGUAGE OF SYCAMORES is part of a five book series. Each book could be read for itself and I have to admit that I did not read them in proper order. I would recommend reading Tending Roses first. It is Kate’s story of coming home to take care of Grandma Rose, to get the feisty old woman ready to go to a nursing home. I also really enjoyed the final book, A Thousand Voices. This is Dell’s story and her search for her Native American father. Trust me; once you meet Grandma Rose’s family you will want to learn more about them.

Lisa Wingate is an author who knows how to tell a story. As life can make you laugh and cry at the same time, so do her books. What another author could turn into maudlin sentimentality, Lisa Wingate turns into warn, true, see-myself-and-friends, inspirational stories. I highly recommend her.