Everything You Are
By
Kerry Anne King
This is a story that took me into a book that is written with words but drew me into it with the power of music at it's core. Music is a universal language and speaks to the heart, mind and soul. This book did just that for me. I fell into the pages like I would at a symphony as a maestro conducts the orchestra to create magic and an experience in melodies and notes. It is a book that has a story that captivated me and kept me reading. Just as a great musical piece draws me to listen, this book drew me to turn the pages. I love the inscription at the beginning of the book: "Without music, life would be a mistake."-Friedrich Nietzsche"

The characters in this book are complicated but ones I found I connected to. Ophelia "Phee" MacPhee is a young eighteen year old girl and she inherits her grandfather's luthier business. As he's dying he has her promise to make sure Braden Healey, a young man he sold a cello to when she was young, play the cello or else a curse would cause terrible things to happen. Braden has a "contract between him and the cello, an idiot piece of paper he'd signed when he was still a child-rambling on about a curse that would befall him if he didn't play."

Braden Healey has a secret even he doesn't remember after a terrible accident. He can no longer play the cello because of the injury to his hands. He loved the cello and it was a part of him. He has a daughter, Allie, who loves the cello herself but life is turning tragic, her father has left her family when she needed him and now she is finding acceptance in all the wrong people, places and things. She's rebelling and wants her father only until she's "of age" and can be on her own.

The cello....it speaks, lures, draws these people to herself. It's like she has life, a soul. and the characters depend on her to breathe. Phee, Braden and Allie each have a connection to the cello in their own unique and intimate ways. How can these people find healing for all the hurts they have endured? Is it possible for the cello to mend the brokenness and pieces they each find their lives in?

This book looks at some very difficult subjects that cause divisions and hurt in families. Kerry Anne King addresses these issues in a sensitive and compassionate approach through the characters. It's a story about accepting mistakes, forgiveness of themselves and each other, supporting through love and devotion, and one of never giving up. Through hardships and addictions, loss of trust and forgiveness, fear of failure and then finding love, this book took me on the emotional "concert" of the character's journey. I felt that if I closed my eyes and just listened, I would hear the cello calling along with Phee, Braden and Allie. This book is marvelously and beautifully written. The passages are musical artwork in written words. Music penetrates deeply and so does love. This is found in "Everything You Are" written by the very talented story creator, Kerry Anne King. I highly recommend this book!