by Christine Coleman

Transita, 2005

My Rating: A+

I want you to meet my new friend, Agnes. When I first met Agnes, I felt sorry for her. She’s a nice enough person, but she was stuck in a bad situation. Had I been her, I would have been screaming and scratching. It didn’t take long until Agnes became downright gutsy. By the time we parted, I liked Agnes so much that I want you to meet her too.

I tried to find a good picture of Agnes but I couldn’t find one that matched exactly. The ones you see here I borrowed from Google Images (using some rather insulting search terms). The faces of the women you see here are very similar to Agnes. But they are all missing Agnes’ new orange hair.

Anyway, Agnes is a 75-year-old widow. Her vicar husband left her not well-off financially so Agnes was forced to move in with her son, Jack. Jack is divorced and living with a witchy woman and her two teenage daughters. The witchy woman manipulated Jack into moving Agnes to a place called Harmony Home. I’ll spare you the description of that boring place.

It has been almost a year since she’s seen her grandchildren. That fact alone had me up in arms. Imagine! Not being able to see your grandchildren for such a long time is criminal. Agnes felt the same way. She set in motion a plan to get to them. This plan is what totally motivated Agnes to action, to make changes, and to take control of her life again.

This novel is actually an adventure story. It was loads of fun to follow Agnes as she escaped from Harmony Home, donned her new disguise (hence the orange hair) and her unconventional travels toward her grandchildren.

Along the way Agnes met a wonderful, although a little quirky group of people of all ages. Spending time with all of them was actually the heart of the story. I don’t want to give away the details of these people as it would spoil it for you. Just let me assure you that you will love Agnes and her new friends.

The story also contains some good messages. One message, never spoken out loud, is that it’s never too late to re-invent yourself. Agnes called upon a wealth of courage, creativity and a sense of adventure that had been lying dormant for decades.

I hope that you enjoyed your brief introduction to Agnes. I’d love for you to make her your friend too. This book is available at Amazon but you can find it cheaper and get it faster from Book Depository.

UPDATE: I’ve learned from the author you will probably not be able to buy it from The Book Depository. The publisher has gone out of business. The author still has about 100 copies that she will sell (free postage) via PayPal. Visit her website HERE.

Thanks so much to Jill for this book. You are right, Jill, this book is perfect for all of us “wrinklies.”  (See Jill’s review at Rhapsody In Books.)