"engaging relationship novel"

After living for the past fifteen years in New Zealand and photographing much of the world, Jessie Ryder returns to her hometown of Edenville, Texas near Austin. Jessie suffers from a debilitating illness that will leave her blind, so she needs to see her biological daughter Lila one last time. Years ago Jessie became pregnant after making love to Ian Benning, who later met, fell in love with, and married her sister Luc. Jessie hid the father's identity from everyone and her newly married sister and husband adopted Lila and loved her as their own.

Jessie wants Ian and Luc to tell Lila the truth about who is her biological mother. As the trio struggles with what is best for Lila, the teen engages in hill hopping which leads to the death of another passenger. Meanwhile, Jessie falls in love with widower neighbor Dusty Matlock and his little girl. However, Jessie does not trust relationships so as she loses her sight she flees, but not before the Bennings tell Lila the truth.

HOME BEFORE DARK is an engaging relationship novel that contains a delightful extended cast. Much of the tale focuses on Jessie, yet readers also learn about the other key characters. Although why Jessie felt that Lila had to know the truth is never fully explained, the audience will savor this warm modern day family drama.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 25, 2003

The hardcover debut of award-winning author Susan Wiggs, HOME BEFORE DARK is a contemporary novel that of the emotional story of the lives and loves of two sisters in the Texas Hill Country. Facing a life-altering crisis, Jessie Ryder returns home to Texas to find the child she gave up for adoption sixteen years ago, to her very own sister, Luz.

Summary

In her career as a photojournalist, free-spirited Jessie Ryder has seen the world through her camera lens. But she's never traveled far enough to escape a painful moment that has haunted her for the past sixteen years: the day she gave her baby daughter away. Now she faces a life- altering crisis, and she's decided to fix the broken pieces of her heart and seek out Lila, even if it means she has to upset the world of Lila's adoptive mother, her very own sister, Luz.

Jessie and Luz are drawn into an emotional tug-of-war filled with moments of unexpected humor, surprising sweetness and unbearable sadness. And for Jessie, life's bittersweet irony plays its hand. She meets Dustin Matlock, a young father who has survived devastating loss. Jessie begins to see the hopeful possibilities that lie buried in the most wrenching tragedies. But as the pain, regrets and mistakes of the past rise to the surface, a new picture emerges--a picture filled with hope and promise and the redeeming power of the human heart.