ADVERTISEMENT
Birdie & Jude
Phyllis H. Moore, author
Adult; General Fiction (including literary and historical); (Market)
Birdie has lived to regret many of her decisions, but she doesn’t regret offering a stranger, Jude, shelter from an approaching hurricane. Their serendipitous meeting will form a bond that will change their lives forever.
In a character driven story with memories of the protests and inequality plaguing the 1960's, Birdie’s reached middle age and questions her life. Jude is striking out on her own, but has been derailed by a fatal accident claiming her only friend. Although their backgrounds and lives are vastly different, they recognize something in the other that forges a friendship.
As their relationship solidifies, they share glimpses of their pasts. Birdie is a product of the '60's, an aging hippie, with a series of resentments. She had a sheltered childhood in an upper class family. Her parents longed to see her make the Texas Dip at the Mardi Gras ball. Jude, however, entered foster care as an infant. Her parents, victims of a murder/suicide, left her and her siblings orphaned and separated.
There is something about their connection that strikes Birdie as familiar. Can souls know each other in different lives? Birdie struggles with the awareness that she has had regrets and hasn't lived an authentic life, while Jude faces an uncomfortable truth about her own future. It has all the feels.
Reviews
Moore’s insightful novel centers on a meaningful connection between two women of different generations. Hurricane Gino is heading toward Texas, and Birdie Barnes, an older woman, is living on the island of Galveston. While walking her dog on the beach before the storm hits, she finds 26-year-old Jude, who’s just been released from the hospital after a car accident that killed her friend. Jude’s injuries don’t appear to be life-threatening, but Birdie invites Jude back to her home to rest and shower because, “I’m tired of looking at that clump of dried blood in your hair.” The two share stories as ferocious winds shake the shutters, and each senses she knows the other. Birdie, never married, has lived on the island her entire life, while Jude has moved through foster homes since she was four years old. Birdie is close to her only living relative, her adult nephew, Barry, while Jude’s only friend, Casey, died in the car wreck that injured Jude. When Birdie decides to go on a cruise with friends after the hurricane has passed, she asks Jude to house-sit, and the subsequent meeting between Jude and Barry is fateful. Birdie’s beautiful home and the beach town are lovely settings for the connections between women struggling with questions about their life choices. Moore brings depth and emotional punch to this utterly absorbing story of magically entwined lives. (BookLife)
Amazon.com Curstomer
Excellent writing, hard to put down,amazing how two lost souls found each other when both were in need.Beautiful.made me cry.
