Amazon Zada Connaway Category:  Romance Publisher: Publish America ISBN-10:  1424169690 Type: Fiction Pages: 344 Copyright: March 5, 2007 ISBN-13: 9781424169696 At the age of 17, pregnant, married, and estranged from her family, Margery finds herself transplanted to Charabourgh, a small logging town in the woods of Washington State. When she dies at the age of 77, she leaves her papers and letters to her daughter, Mary. Mary finds the journals her mother had written, stashed away in a trunk; she begins to read and is often surprised and sometimes shocked by what they contain. The hardships and abuse her mother endured, and the crime she committed for the survival of her children, make Mary aware of how fortunate she was to find and marry John so many years earlier. Her brother Stuart, his wife Joan and daughter Ellen are also impacted by Margery’s journals, often in very different ways. Ellen’s steamy yet tragic love affairs lead her on a path of her own, and she receives help from a very unexpected source. Excerpt: "So that is what we did, and if anyone asks, I will simply say that George and I had a fight and he stormed out of the house. David said to tell them that he had come home afterwards and told her he had an offer of work elsewhere,packed his clothes and left. I will try to stick with this. Lord help us, I am going to miss David horribly, but it will be better than being separated from all three of them. At least, I will still have Stu and Mary with me.” Mary reread this last episode several times, not believing what her mother had written. She seemed so matter of fact, Mary thought to herself. It seemed as though she were writing about planning dinner or making out a shopping list. This was not the writing of the warm and loving person she had known her mother to be. Once the shock of the whole thing had worn off, Mary found that her cheeks were wet with her tears and her mind was numb."           Excerpt “You are probably right, John. Mother mentioned in one of her journals that she had written to father’s family on a couple of occasions, and the letters came back with “refused” written on them. But it just doesn’t seem right somehow. It’s like there is no closure. "I guess I need to go out to mother’s grave and yell at her.” Mary had been visiting her mother’s grave since the burial on a fairly regular basis, about once every week or two. She had found comfort in being able to go out to the quiet cemetery and talk to her mother as though she were still alive. She never answered, of course, but Mary was sure she was listening. “But, I won’t go tonight. Maybe I’ll go tomorrow,” Mary said tentatively. “Would you like me to go with you?” John asked. “No, I think I had better do this on my own,” Mary replied. She planned to call Stu and arrange to meet him at the gravesite to tell him what she had learned. She did not know how he would take it, but was certain it would make a difference to him when he learned that he had not been abandoned. Even though she had never talked about it, and had not missed her parent’s fighting, she had always thought that maybe she had done something wrong to make her father desert them. Perhaps Stu had felt the same way.

Our New Book Review
Mother's Journals, Parts 1, 2 & 3 by Zada Connaway is a novel that transpires through generations. Connaway's ability to make her characters real, and draw the reader into their emotions is superb. A spell binding, true-to-life story, filled with mystery and showing how something that effects one's life also effects others around them. I Laughed, I cried and many times found that I was doing both! A powerfully told story!

Freida Luttmer
editor7(at)newbookreviews.org


Helen Wisocki, author's review
Helen Wisocki : review of "Mother's Journals..."
Zada Connaway’s novel, "Mother’s Journals – Parts 1, 2 and 3," colorfully follows the path of an extended family traveling a road with so many twists and turns, it keeps the reader on the edge of their seat, unable to put it down.

When Mary finds that her mother endured several forms of abuse as a young girl and throughout her marriage, she’s shocked. Childhood memories are vague, but they are brought to light when Mary finds the secret in the journals her mother left behind and carried to her grave. From there, life takes an unexpected turn, the torch is passed, and the characters start dancing on the pages.

Ms. Connaway has a gift for telling a story in an easy manner, drawing the reader in, all the while covering an unpopular, yet important subject. There are lessons to be learned throughout the story, and the feeling of hope is a constant.

"Mother’s Journals – Parts 1, 2, and 3" is a must-read, and has it all—it’s well-written, fast-moving, and has explicit descriptions of passionate love scenes. Very entertaining. I recommend the book to all, and give it a five-star rating.

Helen Wisocki
"Innocence Betrayed – A Dad’s Story of Clergy Misconduct"
ISBN # 1-4241-8171-2

From Tree Good, Poetic Goddess
Mother's Journals - a Magical Journey!, October 5, 2007
By Tree Good, author of "The Language of Poetry Form" (Deseronto, ON) -

This is a book that will take you through your entire emotional spectrum. It is the story of three generations that progressed from abuse and unwarranted guilt, through anger and hate to understanding and continues on to a conclusion of love, happiness and most importantly, to hope.
The characters in this novel are all fictitious but the feelings and actions of the three main characters, Margery, her daughter Mary and granddaughter Ellen, are so believable that they truly do "come to life" for the reader.
Although Mother's Journals - Parts1, 2 and 3 come to a very satisfying conclusion I hope that Zada Connaway will continue with a Part 4 because now I am wondering how the future of Ellen's daughter, Bethany, turns out.