Seeing Things

Title: SEEING THINGS
Author: Patti Hill
Publisher: Broadman & Holman Fiction
September 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8054-4751-4
Genre: Inspirational/ women’s fiction

Birdie Wainwrite has macular degeneration, but that isn’t about to stop her! Birdie loves dancing, hiking with her large dog, and is famous in her small Colorado town for baking pies. But when Birdie accidentally falls and breaks her ankle, suddenly she finds herself being forced to live with her son, his wife, and her sixteen year old grandson. Not the ideal circumstances for this fun-loving grandma, especially when her daughter in law is a doctor, and the relationship has been less than pleasant from day one.

Andy and Suzanne are both very busy, and neither have much time for Birdie, leaving her care to their house-keeper, and their sixteen year old son. Fletcher is a dear boy, but he and his father do not see eye to eye, and the boy is constantly being belittled and threatened with boarding school.

When Fletcher has to read Huckleberry Fin for his English class, Birdie is delighted. She loves that story. So, she and Fletcher spend time together reading. But then, Huck Fin starts appearing in Birdie’s room! At first he just comes. And then he finds a voice and talks to her. And listens to her. And Birdie is wondering if she’s going crazy.

I have read and loved all of Patti Hill’s books so far, and was looking forward to reading SEEING THINGS. I was not disappointed. Birdie is a seventy-something year old woman, but she is very active, reminding me of my mother. And being legally blind doesn’t slow her down at all. Birdie is not happy living with her son and his wife, but she loves getting to know her grandson better, and even makes friends with her son’s neighbors.

Birdie is very realistic, and I couldn’t help but fall in love with her. Coupled with Ms. Hill’s descriptive writing style and I could hear the dog’s nails clicking on the wood floors (of course that might have been our dog I heard!) and seen the surroundings—at least the portion that Birdie could see. Laugh out loud funny at times, this is a book you will not soon forget. The ending does seem a bit rushed. $14.99. 320 pages.