Review
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Title: Fields of Home
Author: Rachel Ann Nunes
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Genre: Fiction
Year Published: 2008
Number of Pages: 304
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 978-1-59038-852-5
Price: $15.95

Reviewed by Jaymie Reynolds


Mercedes Johnson has a very big problem. In the parking lot of her local Wyoming grocery store, she has just come face to face with a spectre from her past. Unfortunately though, this ghost of years gone by is entirely human and he has come to Mercedes' part of Wyoming with only one purpose in mind. He is here to take her son. For Mercedes, the consequences of a choice she made thirteen, long years ago had just collided with the life she had worked so hard to build for herself and her family in the present.

Thirteen years ago, Dr. Brandon Rhodes was finishing up his residency. He was also in love with a girl named Mercedes Walker. As their story unfolds, it seems as though every twisted circumstance was combining to thwart this young love. Eventually, Brandon returns home to Boston, leaving Mercedes and her growing secret behind him. Although Brandon didn't know it, Mercedes was pregnant with their child. Mercedes was forced to move on in order to care for the little one she carried. She married a good man and their family, and their love, continued to grow. Though she had grown to love Wayne deeply, she had never been able to completely let go of the past.

Now, thirteen years later, after a failed marriage and a harsh bout with stomach cancer, Brandon has discovered that he has a son. In the knowledge of this twelve year old boy, Brandon sees one last hope for his future. He returns to Wyoming intent on reclaiming the son he has never known. After seeing Mercedes again, he realizes that he wants to reclaim their relationship as well. Mercedes must choose the love of her past and all of the dreams of young love or the love of her present and the home and family that they have created together.

In this book, Rachel Ann Nunes does an excellent job of tying the worlds of Mercedes Walker and Mercedes Johnson together. Mercedes' struggle to find her place is a struggle that many women can relate to. Who hasn't wondered what might have been had they chosen differently in the past? So often, women of today are confronted with options that can seem more glamorous or more fulfilling than everyday life. Throughout this story, Mercedes and the reader come to see that there is great merit in the quiet, unconditional love that is built over time.