Good Hope Road

What a heartfelt novel this turned out to be! Told from two perspectives - Jenilee, a 21-year-old who is considered white trash by the small community, and Eudora Gibson, a bitter, elderly woman who has her nose in everyone's business. After a tornado that tears the community apart, the two women grow to understand and like each other as the town rallies together to recover.

I loved Jenilee from the start. Despite the death of her mother and her abusive father, she has a generous, forgiving heart and a gentle nature. It took longer to like Eudora, but she did grow on me and she often made me smile.

Dealing with broken relationships, forgiveness and moving forward in the face of adversity, "Good Hope Road" was a poignant read.

Jenilee Lane grew up in a poor white home with an abusive father and sick mother who died. When a tornado hits her community, she steps in to help. The first thing she does is rescue her grouchy, old neighbor lady and the lady's granddaughter, from their cellar.
Eudora is from a group of women in town who had looked down on Jenilee and her family, though Eudora's not the worst. Read the book to find out how they bond and how Jenilee's posting of all the papers she finds brings healing to the community.

The story of Jenilee Laneand her family and friends is an excellent read. Lisa Wingate has a way with words that has the reader devouring her books and waiting for the next one. This story centers around a tornado hitting a small Missouri community and the healing that takes place following this natural disaster. I highly recommend this book.

3.5 stars This book club selection was an easy, pleasant read. Sweet and hopeful.

From BackCover:
IN A TIME OF CRISIS, TWO WOMEN COME TOGETHER...AND SET OFF DOWN A ROAD OF HOPE....

Twenty-one-year-old Jenilee Lane, whose dreams are as narrow as the sky is wide, is the last person to expect anything good to come out of the tornado that rips across the Missouri farmland surrounding her home. But some inner spark compels her to take action—to rescue her elderly neighbor, Eudora Gibson, from the cellar in which she's been trapped. To make her way to the nearby town of Poetry, where the townspeople have begun to gather in the only building left standing. To collect from the landscape fragments of life that lie strewn about in the tornado's wake: letters, photographs—mementos that might mean something to people who have show more lost everything....

Eudora Gibson is the last person to expect courageous acts from Jenilee Lane. But the girl she's hardly noticed for years is now surprising her—stepping forward with a bravery that inspires Eudora to face her own bitterness over the past. Brought close by tragedy, Jenilee and Eudora will learn lessons about the resilience of the human spirit and the ties that make a community strong. They will travel to a place they once never would have imagined. show less