Lisa Lickel’s Meander Scar challenges us to rethink our ideas of love–to venture past the superficial so that we can focus on the heart, regardless of it’s packaging. This novel has a little bit of everything: conspiracy, a glimpse of high-society, romance, hatred, passion, mercy–practically the entire gamut of human emotions all wrapped up in about two hundred and thirty pages.
When we first meet Alice Ballard, the heroine, we are instantly drawn to her shy, insecure, yet gentle heart. Tied to a man no one has seen or heard from in five years, the upkeep is unbearable. Being connected to the lucrative Ballard trust, through marriage, does her little good because her spiteful mother-in-law does everything in her power to keep Alice from the money that is rightfully hers. And any hopes Alice has of breaking free are quickly shattered. But when a handsome man from the past shows up on her doorstep, promising Alice the love she’s always longed for but never had, her desire to be free increases to the point of desperation. It isn’t long before she takes matters into her own hands, eliciting the help of her handsome new lawyer friend. But when the web of lies that have become her life unravel, will she, and her only remaining son, be able to bear the truth or will it tear what’s left of their lives to shreds?
Although it took about forty pages or so for me to really get into this book, once I understood all the dynamics, I was hooked. Lisa Lickel turns our ideas of “Romeo and Juliet Romances” on their ears in a story that will keep you turning the pages long into the night.