Nate and Chloe have known each other since they were young children. At that time they bonded over the Narnia series of books by C.S. Lewis which they read together with his sisters and mother-the reclusive Sinclair family.  Now many years later they are married and living the life they have always dreamed by owning a lovely but labor intensive Victorian mansion with a specialty bookstore on the ground floor and living space upstairs. They had suffered a tragedy early in their marriage which caused them to leave the town of Redbridge to get away from anything that might remind them of what had happened. After buying the old mansion they had thrown themselves into renovating it as a way of rebuilding their lives and marriage.

But then one day Chloe returns home after running errands and finds this note on the kitchen table:

Someone, I don’t remember who, said that life is like a beautiful melody with messed up lyrics. I never really understood that until just now. Something’s happened very suddenly, something truly “messed up,” and I need to go back to Redbridge tonight. I tried to call your cell but it must’ve been off. I’m not sure when I’ll be back, I t may be awhile, but I’ll call as soon as I know more.

~N

As the days pass without word from Nate, Chloe retreats into the painful past. The memories are complicated and somehow unstable.  She finds a journal that Nate had been writing hidden in and old copy of The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe. It is in the code that they had used as children and as she slowly decodes his words the past begins to take shape in terrifying ways.  She had always known that the Nate’s family, were odd and reclusive, but she begins to fear that they may have had something to do with Nate’s disappearance and the tragic incident that has haunted their lives. As Chloe digs deeper, she realizes that in order to find Nate, she must confront the past, so together they can heal.

Brenda’s Rating: ***1/2 (3 1/2 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Lauren, Marian and Sharon

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format.