Recovering Charles by Jason F. Wright

From Barnes & Noble

Everything was fine until the phone call. Luke Millward had a good job, a great girlfriend, and, he thought, a happy, meaningful life. Then came the late-night message about his father missing in post-Katrina New Orleans. It was if that one call awakened a sleeping man. An arresting fiction by the author of Christmas Jars and The Wednesday Letters.

From the Publisher

Luke Millward is a man who does not know he is lost. His girlfriend loves him, his career is going well, and every night he falls asleep knowing that his life is good and meaningful. Only when the past reveals its twisted smile in a phone call and a disconnected voice asks him to come find his father in post-Katrina New Orleans is Luke compelled to find out what kind of man he truly is.

ForeWord Magazine

With the recent aftermath of Hurricane Katrina looming in the background, Wright's new novel hovers delicately between the reality of the hurricane's catastrophic damage to the city of New Orleans, and the intertwined lives of a few holdouts remaining in the city. As the broken residents hunt for survivors, successful New York photographer Luke Millward arrives to search for his missing father, Charles, a former architect who has long been absent from Luke's life.

This New York Times bestselling author cuts deeply into the soul of New Orleans residents, and weaves a touching, if somewhat sentimental, tale of paternal love and emotional resurrection. Luke's personal journey to New Orleans reveals much about his father's recent life, including his recovery from alcoholism, a fascinating and mysterious fiancée, a revived musical career, and a group of intensely loyal friends who make it their personal mission to reacquaint Luke with his father.

Effectively employing flashbacks to Luke's idyllic childhood, the slow deterioration of his relationship with his father is played out in touching vignettes, leading up to the suicide of Luke's mother following an inconsolable bout of depression. In his distinctively abrupt style, Wright easily describes his father's emotional turmoil soon after his mother's death: "My father clung to his complicated, braided rope of faith. He said one day Mother's soul would surface again . . . " His father's subsequent plunge into alcoholism becomes the basis for Luke's inability to commit to his longtime girlfriend, as well as the motivation that drives his career ambitions as a Manhattan photographer.

Wright has previouslypublished three novels, The James Miracle, Christmas Jars and The Wednesday Letters, and is also a well-known political/social editorialist. In Recovering Charles, mystery and romance readers will be hooked on Luke's puzzling search and his encounter with an exotic mystery woman while in New Orleans. Readers favoring realism will suffer Luke's pain through aptly described recollections of his childhood. With a harsh dose of reality, Wright is accomplished in his use of imagery, as his descriptions of New Orleans are often graphic and moving. His plethora of New Orleans characters are intriguing and occasionally puzzling, if not particularly inspiring. In a surprising twist, the unexpected conclusion leads Luke to a place he never imagined, and leaves the reader with much to ponder.

Blogger News Network

Jason Wright has encapsulated all of the emotions that we felt during that time. His descriptive writing is unparalleled, he picks up on small things, a child's broken toy, a picture frame showing a happy mother and her newborn baby. These are powerful images.

Luke's journey is one that occurs on two levels, on the outside it is one of search and rescue, on the inside it is one of self discovery and reconciliation with his past.

There is also a very unique twist at the end of the book, actually two twists, these are unexpected and a masterful use of the plot.

Recovering Charles is an evocative and emotional read, and even though a work of fiction, I can guarantee that you will have a lump in your throat when you finish reading it. This book deserves to be on the New York Times best seller list, it certainly is one that I will remember for a very long time. As a reviewer I rarely have the luxury of time to read a book twice, I will make time for Recovering Charles.

What People Are Saying

Glenn Beck
"Recovering Charles is a riveting story of hope, healing, and, above all, faith. I was profoundly touched by seeing my own struggles reflected in its pages and inspired by its message that life can always have a second verse."--(Glenn Beck, CNN Headline News, radio talk-show host, and #1 New York Times bestselling author)

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