Unwritten: A Novel by Charles Martin

Unwritten: A Novel by Charles Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description:An actress running from her past finds escape with a man hiding from his future.

When someone wants to be lost, a home tucked among the Ten Thousand Islands off the Florida coast is a good place to live. A couple decent boats, and a deep knowledge of fishing and a man can get by without ever having to talk to another soul. It's a nice enough existence, until the one person who ties him to the world of the living, the reason he's still among them even if only on the fringes, asks him for help. 

Father Steady Capri knows quite a bit about helping others. But he is afraid Katie Quinn's problems may be beyond his abilities. Katie is a world-famous actress with an all too familiar story. Fame seems to have driven her to self-destruct. Steady knows the true cause of her desire to end her life is buried too deeply for him to reach. But there is one person who still may be able to save her from herself. 

He will show her an alternate escape, a way to write a new life. But Katie still must confront her past before she can find peace. Ultimately, he will need to leave his secluded home and sacrifice the serenity he's found to help her. From the Florida coast, they will travel to the French countryside where they will discover the unwritten story of both their pasts and their future.

My thoughts: This is not the book I thought it would be. It is not predictable and the ending charmed me. Both characters have much to hide and choose suicide as their only option. Both characters find that there is another option they had not previously examined. One chooses it on purpose. The other kind of follows it because it comes up. Both characters use the down time to heal, pray, find themselves, and become reborn.

The use of symbolism throughout the book offers an extra layer to the story. The book is about gifts, loss, grief, and healing. It is about God and not hiding the proverbial candle under a bushel.