The Salt Garden by Cindy McCormick Martinusen

I really wanted to love this book. It has a LOT going for it.

Start with Sophia, a reclusive author, who spends her lonely days longing for visits from her dearest friend Ben. Then there's Claire, a college grad muddling through the early stages of her career, just to find that her path may be heading back to the hometown she so eagerly fled. Finally, there is a journal. A woman long dead and gone, who shares her personal struggles in the midst of trying times.

I love the trio of experiences and the way their stories intertwine.

But wait. We need to add more layers. There's a mystery about a shipwreck. And a saboteur on a bridge project. And Claire's old boyfriend who is having Christian debates with Sophia's Ben.

There's a lot going on in this book, yet it still works for the most part. I appreciated the crescendoing conclusion, and the budding romances that blossomed. Yet, I was left dissatisfied.

Perhaps disappointed is a better word. With all the richness this book depicts in terms of Christianity and finding your way to God, where was God in the crescendo? I was expecting some great revelation, some wave of insight, a testimony to God's faithfulness and grace.

It is there. . . . in a still small voice, but I really wanted it to be shouted from the rooftops.

It is a book worth reading, perhaps even pondering.