Bringing Maggie Home Book Review

Bringing Maggie Home contains decades of loss, an unsolved mystery, and a rift spanning three generations.

About Bringing Maggie Home

Hazel DeFord is a woman haunted by her past. While berry picking in a blackberry thicket in 1943, ten-year old Hazel momentarily turns her back on her three-year old sister Maggie and the young girl disappears.

Almost seventy years later, the mystery remains unsolved and the secret guilt Hazel carries has alienated her from her daughter Diane, who can’t understand her mother’s overprotectiveness and near paranoia. While Diane resents her mother’s inexplicable eccentricities, her daughter Meghan—a cold case agent—cherishes her grandmother’s lavish attention and affection.

When a traffic accident forces Meghan to take a six-week leave-of-absence to recover, all three generations of DeFord women find themselves unexpectedly under the same roof. Meghan knows she will have to act as a mediator between the two headstrong and contentious women. But when they uncover Hazel’s painful secret, will Meghan also be able to use her investigative prowess to solve the family mystery and help both women recover all that’s been lost?

My Thoughts

Bringing Maggie Home is a brilliant novel following the lives of three generations of women in the same family. Each of them has been impacted by Hazel’s past and the disappearance of her younger sister Maggie although her daughter Diane and granddaughter Meghan do not know about Hazel’s past and the loss of her sister.

When Hazel’s sister disappears, her world is shattered. It tears apart her parents and she carries a guilt that no child should bear. As Diane and Meghan later learn, the impact on the remaining years of her childhood and teen can be greatly seen in pictures and Hazel’s refusal to talk about what happened. Maggie’s disappearance causes Hazel to later on in life hold on too close to Diane, to the point where Diane felt smothered and anger towards her Mother.

When Meghan decides to investigate more into Maggie’s disappearance, the family dynamics begin to change. Hazel becomes more open and Diane becomes more understanding. It is amazing the amount of damage that one secret can cause! Hazel’s refusal to talk about her sister caused a great rift between her daughter and herself. If she had chosen to speak to Diane about it in the beginning, Diane may have appreciated more why her Mother was so protective and overbearing.

Bringing Maggie Home is a well written novel showcasing forgiveness, compassion, hope and love. It shows us that we need to be honest with those we love and to learn to show compassion and forgive each other for our  mistakes. I laughed and cried along with Hazel, Diane and Meghan always keeping my fingers and toes crossed for the happy ending that this family deserves. This is a definite must read novel!

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Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Kim Vogel Sawyer is a highly acclaimed, best-selling author with more than one million books in print, in several different languages. Her titles have earned numerous accolades including the ACFW Carol Award, the Inspirational Readers Choice Award, and the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence. Kim lives in central Kansas with her retired military husband Don, where she continues to write gentle stories of hope and redemption. She enjoys spending time with her three daughters and grandchildren.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.