Heartbreakingly Beautiful
What Happens Next by Christina Suzann Nelson is a most beautiful and heartbreaking Christian dual timeline novel that consumed me from the start. I never wanted it to end.
The action is set in 1987 and then thirty-five years later. We hear the events in the third person from several different points of view. We get to know the characters intimately from ten-year-old Heather in 1987 to her best friend and her mother thirty-five years later. It is love and memories which link the lives.
Since 1987 Heather has been missing. Her mother has been unable to grieve as she is keeping hope alive. “Hope was life-giving… Could she survive without hope?”
The loss has torn the family apart. The love of God and each other is the glue needed to help them all to live again. We hear “she’d turned her back on God… But that didn’t stop Him from being there, still waiting on His lost child.” God, our Father lovingly awaits the prodigal returning home.
Heather’s mother, Dora, held everyone at arm’s length since her daughter’s disappearance. “Her heart battled to keep a barrier between herself and the kind of love that could end in devastating loss.” To love and to lose hurts too much to do again, so it is easier to wall up a heart. “The world kept spinning, no matter how much Dora needed it to stop.” We can never fathom why life continues when our hearts are broken.
For thirty-five years Dora kept Heather’s room as a shrine. “She [Heather] was a memory that brought comfort and brokenness.” Keeping Heather’s things around has kept Dora locked up in her grief. She also walked away from church. “Each Sunday felt like a reminder that God hadn’t chosen her family for a miracle.” She needs help from others in order to begin the process of healing.
The summer of 1987 was a blissful one. Heather made a friend in ten-year-old Faith who spent the summer at her grandmother’s. As we ‘hear’ about the freedom and the bonding of the two girls, the reader can ‘feel’ the love.
Faith also learnt about a mother’s love as modelled by Dora. “Dora Crane had more heart and love than any other mother Faith knew.” It is on Dora Crane that Faith models herself on, as she is a mother to two girls.
We see that smiling again does not mean forgetting. “Enjoying this day does not take away memories of Heather.”
Grief is all-consuming. There are days when one cannot go on and then “I leaned on my faith in God.” We learn that “God understands my grief… it isn’t a weakness, but a consequence of love.”
We are not destined to repeat generational sins nor “being kin to someone doesn’t make you responsible for their sins.” We can only own our own lives, not others.
Ten-year-old Faith was cushioned from her friend’s disappearance, only finding out thirty-five-years later when Heather’s sister wants help finding out the truth. Faith is an investigative journalist.
What Happens Next is a very beautiful book. We can ‘feel’ the love and the loss. The author’s words paint a wonderful picture of the carefree summer of 1987, which contrasts with the deep loss. The reader hears of a simpler time where children had the freedom to roam.
This was my first book by Christina Suzann Nelson. I certainly intend to read many more.
I received a free copy from the publishers. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.
JULIA WILSON
