"The Novelist" by Angela Hunt
- William Estep
- Club reading
- October 12, 2009
Table of Contents
Reviewer: Sally
Angela Hunt is in the top five of my favorite authors list. Her stories are exciting from page 1 to the end. I know when I start one; it is likely to be a very late night. They are hard to put down. “The Novelist” is a little different than the majority of Angela Hunt’s books…excellent…but different. That is not surprising, given the storyline of the book.
“The Novelist” is Jordan Casey. That is her pen name. The majority of her readers assume Jordan is a man. Over the past 20 years she has written a highly successful series of adventure stories about a larger than life hero, Rex Tower.
Jordan Casey Kerrigan is a wife and mother of three grown children. The youngest, Zachary, age 20 is an alcoholic. He was unable to make it in college because of the alcoholism. He has been through rehab and is again living at home. He continues to be difficult, but Jordan and her husband, Carl, do not give up on helping him.
As the story begins Jordan has agreed to teach a course at a local community college on ‘How to Write a Novel.’ One very obnoxious student is not terribly awestruck with the big-time writer, and challenges her with questions like, “Could you write something other than your usual super hero style novel, something more personal?” She accepts that challenge. In fact, she decides it would be a great teaching tool for the class…to allow them to see her week-to-week process in writing a novel.
She accepts the challenge to write something very personal. No one will know it. It will most likely never be published. She wants to write something that will help her son …the alcoholic. He needs to understand that life is a series of choices. He needs to understand that the choices he makes affect others besides himself. He needs to understand that there is a God who loves him enough to forgive him.
The book is quite unique. We follow the story line of Jordan and her family life…and we follow the story that Jordan is writing for the class…for her son.
I very highly recommend “The Novelist.”