The Recital
by Robert Elmer
Gerrit Appledoorn and Joan Horton are dating, and things are perfect. At least until Gerrit goes over to Joan’s house one evening after she burned her supper and when he takes out the trash he discovers a letter from a school of music in Chicago buried in the trash. Gerrit wonders what it’s about, but he doesn’t want to confess to Joan that he’s been digging around in her garbage. So he waits for Joan to mention it.
Joan keeps thinking about the offer to teach in Chicago and wondering where she mislaid the letter. It interested her to think of teaching advanced level piano students instead of the first and second year piano students who now fill her days. But she’s with Gerrit . . . and when he proposes, Joan has no other answer except “Yes!â€
Still, the letter keeps coming between them. Gerrit finally brings it up, and the next thing he knows he’s given all he loves and knows to move halfway across the country—to Chicago—for her. The job he thought he’d landed fell through. And Gerrit and Joan seem to disagree with each other more than they agree. What is Gerrit supposed to do with his days while his wife works? Will this marriage work?
THE RECITAL is the sequel to Mr. Elmer’s earlier novel, The Duet, and I think this is one of his best works yet. I laughed. I cried. And my emotions ran from the highs to the lows during the course of this page turner.
Joan and Gerrit are loveable characters. I could thoroughly relate to Joan, coming back to her native environment, a metro area she thrives in. I also related to Gerrit, leaving the quiet country life he knew and loved for an area where people seem to fill their days with busyness to hide the loneliness. Gerrit isn’t sure how to relate to the city folk, and he becomes the butt of many of Joan’s co-workers’ jokes. It was interesting to read about the clash between small town values and big city sophistication.
I enjoyed THE RECITAL, and highly recommend this book. My copy is going on my keeper shelf. THE RECITAL will warm your heart. $12.99. 288 pages.
Reviewed by Laura V. Hilton
chbookshelf July 10, 2006
This book could be considered a “romance novel.” But it’s not like any
I’ve ever read before. It’s not about a young couple trying to work
their way to the altar and then through life together. Both of the main
characters of this book have already been through that and ended up
losing that very special person. Each of them had assumed that they’d
live out the rest of their lives alone. But sometimes the Lord has
something different in mind.
Garrett Appeldoorn was happy selling farm equipment in the small
community of Van Dalen. He loved his family and especially that little
granddaughter of his. So when he was asked to take her to her piano
lessons, he readily agreed. As he watched his daughter pound away on
the keys, he started looking at her teacher, Joan Horton. Joan was
former college professor, but gave up teaching music to college students
to move to Van Dalen to be closer to her children. Teaching children
wasn’t nearly as challenging, but she loved passing on her love of
music. Garrett feels that love and decides to start taking lessons himself!
As the book opens Garrett and Joan have been dating for a while. Both
find themselves distracted as they try to get through their day. Joan
is distracted during a lesson thinking of the dinner she’s making for
Garrett. Garrett is distracted as he tries to find the right words to
ask Joan to marry him! The day takes an unexpected turn as Joan not
only burns dinner, but finds that a neighbor has called the local fire
department. Garrett arrives as the firemen are making sure that
everything’s out. This was definitely NOT the way either of them
thought the evening would end.
The author weaves many things into his story. Garrett and Joan attend
different churches and have some difficulty finding common ground at
times. They both have their own families with all the problems that can
involve. They both are dealing with mixed feelings having lost their
first loves. But through it all they become one flesh and set out on
the biggest adventure of their lives.
The author uses an interesting technique. He writes the book from both
the main character’s perspectives so you get to understand them at a
much deeper level. You’re let in on what’s going on inside them, not
just what they’re willing to show the world.
I highly recommend this book. Although I think older readers would get
more out of it, readers of any age could learn a lot about true love!
Reviewed by Lynn Worley