Eleven-year-old Roz (Rosalind) Anthony and her family have just moved to Mills River, Illinois, to escape an abusive situation. Only days after settling into their new home, they are surprised to find the previous owner, Tillie Monroe, on their front porch reading the newspaper.
Though her sons have sold the house and sent her to a facility for the aged, she is determined to die in the place she lived her life, and somehow manages to find her way "home" day after day. Feeling sympathy for the elderly woman, Roz's mother allows Tillie to move back in.
Mara Nightingale becomes Roz's first friend in Mills River. In spite of their many differences, the girls discover they have something in common that binds them together--both are hiding secrets. So they make a promise--"cross my heart and hope to die"--never to tell anyone else. When danger stalks the Anthonys, Tillie exhibits unimaginable courage and selfless love in her determination to protect the family she has adopted as her own.
If you would like to read the first chapter of Promises to Keep, go HERE.
Ann Tatlock is the author of the Christy Award-winning novel All the Way Home. She has also won the Midwest Independent Publishers Association "Book of the Year" in fiction for both All the Way Home and I'll Watch the Moon. Her novel Things We Once Held Dear received a starred review from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly calls her "one of Christian fiction's better wordsmiths, and her lovely prose reminds readers why it is a joy to savor her stories." Ann lives with her husband and daughter in Asheville, North Carolina.
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Heidi Says . . . This was the first of Ann’s novels that I have read, but it certainly won’t be the last. It didn’t take me long at all to get attached to the characters in this book. I enjoyed a glimpse at life in the late 1960’s through the eyes of young Roz. Though she’s only 11, she’s a strong character with a lot of mature things on her mind (abuse, alcoholism, a family torn apart, a brother running off to join the service, etc.) Her friendship with Mara was endearing, especially at a time with inter-racial relationships were still not so easily accepted. And Tillie . . . what can I say about Tillie? I fell in love with her. What a strong grandmotherly figure – she knew what she wanted and she wasn’t about to give up. I love how their stories were all intertwined. The end was nothing I expected – and I totally appreciated that! (I hate when I can figure out a book just a few pages into it!)
So, I’d definitely recommend Promises to Keep and will be watching for more of Ann’s books.
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