"A Romance with a look at history that is passionate and entertaining"
Gabrielle Camden has suffered numerous losses in her past,
the blame for which she lays solidly at her own feet. More
than a decade ago, her world was destroyed by an accident
that caused the death of her younger brother and tore apart
her family. Feeling responsible for her parent's separation
and her tutor's losing his job; Gaby throws herself into
her pursuit of a career as a forensic artist. She travels
from excavation site to excavation site in search of
something that, until her most recent project, has remained
illusive to her: a sense of belonging and purpose. When Gaby uncovers the skull of a young Native American
woman at the dig site of her current project, she has no
idea that her life is about to change drastically. Driven,
and with things to prove to herself and the foundation
funding the project, she throws herself into reconstructing
the face of a woman whose life is inexorably connected to
her own. Dogging Gaby's steps and lurking around the dig site,
hungry for a story that's begging to be told, is news
reporter Roy Prescott. In search of his own sense of worth
and belonging and trying to surpass his father's low
expectations for him, Roy is a man with issues of his own
to prove. Gaby mistrusts the media and avoids them at all costs after
trusting them once resulted in her losing funding for a
project. She's determined not to make this mistake again
and resolves to keep the enigmatic Roy at arm's length. He
represents much more of a threat than the media at large
does as she recognizes his ability to too easily skirt her
protective walls. Roy is attracted to Gaby in ways he can't begin to
identify. But the attraction doesn't confuse or frighten
him as much as the visions that lately plague him do. They
seem to hint at a mysterious past love with the artist,
which is a belief system that he, a man of believe-it-when-
I-see it facts, is unprepared to accept. Despite his
misgivings, Roy plans to persuade Gaby to entrust him with
the details of her current project, but more importantly,
with the secrets of her battered conscience and emotionally
scarred heart. But before he has a chance to do either,
Gaby disappears, leaving Roy to look for her in the most
unexpected place conceivable: their past. Ms. Petit shows real talent for setting in this novel,
bringing to life the rugged and dangerous western territory
of Custer's Last Stand with authority and vivid imagery,
drawing the reader into the fateful politics under which so
many Native Americans and Whites lived and died. In this
depiction she is both passionate and entertaining, without
being preachy or losing sight of the immortal love story at
the heart of this book. A debut crafted with sensitivity and underlying themes of
magic and spirituality, Ms. Petit's novel balances the
harsh realities of the past with the sensual promise of the
future. Through her enticing and credible
characterizations, she succeeds in showing us that not only
can we go home again and again, the heart will always be
there once we arrive. Convincing and fanciful, "A Find Through Time" is well
worth the trip back through time.
Reviewed by Gracie McKeever
Posted March 16, 2003
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