My Never Ending List

I tried to figure out why it took me days to read this novel and the only reason I can think of, was the holidays. I tried to read it over Thanksgiving but there was so much going on. The characters were never far from my mind as I kept thinking of Moses and how his ability to paint was controlling his life. I haven’t read a novel by Amy Harmon in a while so I grabbed this one at the library and after reading the first couple pages I know why I enjoy her writing. Amy pulls you in immediately into her world with her pace and characters that have captivating pasts and intriguing stories. There are always twists in her novels; things that I never see coming and her storylines to me are different. I never know upon reading the synopsis how the story is going to play out, for they are vague but I know Amy’s writings so I realize that I will stumble upon distinct characters and a special and unusual storyline that I will not forget.

He was left in a basket at a Laundromat only moments after his birth for she preferred drugs over being a mother. She was found dead just a few days later. They named this child Moses and he’s passed around to all his remaining living relatives as he is just too much for one person to handle. His great grandmother, a good woman who seems to know how to handle him, usually has him over the summer but she is up in years so the other relatives pass him around during the rest of the year. This goes on for all of Moses childhood. It is Moses’ senior year and his great grandmother is allowed to keep him for the year. There is some religion in this novel as great grandma is a religious woman who I adored very much. She finds work for Moses as a farmhand on a nearby horse ranch where their horses work with individuals who are troubled. Individuals in the town know of Moses’ rough past and there are people who have already formed their own opinion of him. On the ranch, Georgia also knows of Moses and her father has told her to keep away from him. With her future planned out, Georgia tries to keep her distance from Moses but circumstances have them together more often than not. Moses has a talent, a talent that seems to be getting him in trouble but the need is too great inside him to stop. Moses is a painter, what he paints is not typical but he has no control over it over what he must express. An artist must reveal what he feels and sees, so Moses paints. I loved the depth that his painting revealed, the mystery and the emotion that followed his art. The relationships with the individuals that Moses had in his life, what a moving experience they were. I enjoyed the richness of this novel, the romance and each character that moved throughout the pages. I’m glad that I picked up another one of Amy’s novels at the library; I can’t wait to see where that one leads me.