About What Matters Most - Book Description
With every New York Times bestseller, Luanne Rice illuminates yet another of the secret wonders of the heart. Her unforgettable evocations of family, friendship, and loves lost and won in such novels as The Edge of Winter, Sandcastles, and Summer of Roses give voice to our most powerful emotions. Now she brings back two of her most beloved characters to tell of their journey across the sea to unravel the mysteries of a shared past—and two undying love affairs.…
What Matters Most
Sister Bernadette Ignatius has returned to Ireland in the company of Tom Kelly to search for the past—and the son—they left behind. For it was here that these two long-ago lovers spent a season of magic before Bernadette’s calling led her to a vocation as Mother Superior at Star of the Sea Academy on the sea-tossed Connecticut shore. For Tom, Bernadette’s choice meant giving up his fortune and taking the job as caretaker at Star of the Sea, where he could be close to the woman he could no longer have but whom he never stopped loving. And while one miracle drew them apart, another is about to bring them together again.
For somewhere in Dublin a young man named Seamus Sullivan is also on a search, dreaming of being reunited with his own first love, the only “family” he’s ever known. They’d been inseparable growing up together at St. Augustine’s Children’s Home, until Kathleen Murphy’s parents claimed her and she vanished across the sea to America. Now, in a Newport mansion, that very girl, grown to womanhood, works as a maid and waits with a faith that defies all reason for the miracle that will bring back the only boy she’s ever loved.
That miracle is at hand—but like most miracles, it can come only after the darkest of nights and the deepest of heartbreaks. For life can be as precarious as a walk along a cliff, and its greatest rewards reached only by those who dare to risk everything…for what matters most.
From the Hardcover edition.
What Matters Most Reviews by BookSwim Members
written by BookSwimmer on 05/06/2008Luanne Rice has been one of my favorite writers. I look forward to all her books. This one, however, was the worst I have ever experienced. It was very depressing, the whole time I kept hoping it was going to at least end good so that it would make up for the creepy feeling I got while reading it. Sister Bernadette was selfish and manipulative and I was actually hoping she was miserable for the rest of her life, for all the pain she caused both her son and former lover. She supposedly loved her baby she gave up for adoption but would not let the father who wanted the baby or anyone in his family have any part in perhaps helping to find a good home for him. I still can't figure out how I felt about Tom, the lovesick grounds keeper. He lived on the property for 23 years in hopes that someday Sister Bernadette would realize they should be together. He seemed very wimpy and browbeaten by her. Everything she decided he went along with like some lovesick puppy. I was so happy when he finally left the place I kept hoping he could finally have a life with someone who would appreciate him and treat him better. I hope we don't see this group of characters again. I really couldn't stomach anymore of Sister Bernadette.
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written by BookSwimmer on 05/06/2008This was my first Luanne Rice book and it won't be my last. I couldn't put it down and I read it in one day. Even though the ending was devastating, I loved every minute of it.
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written by BookSwimmer on 05/06/2008I do a decent amount of driving so I listened to this book on CD. I commend the reader for a wonderful use of language and voices. But I must say if I were trying to read this book I would probably have given up. There is much significance to the title "What Matters Most" because what mattered most to Bernie - Sister Bernadette Ignatius - was her vocation. That decision to become a nun - supposedly because of a vision that she had - caused her to forsake her child and the love of her life. As the book went on, Bernie became more and more hollow and selfish. By the end of the book I came to dislike the character. With all of her so called holiness she wrecked the life of her son and the man who really loved her - all because she wanted to be a nun. If that were the case, how did she get pregnant in the first place. And how did Tom hang around all of those years? It didn't make sense.
I also found Tom and Bernie's love for their son hard to accept. For 23 years they never did any to check on his where abouts - they never called, wrote a letter or anything - they never confirmed that he was with the so called loving family. Bernie was in the same order - she could have found out something. With the influence Tom's family had, they could have placed the child themselves - it just didn't make sense. I also found it hard to believe that the convent took Bernie in after knowing that she had a baby and when she moved to America and became the mother superior - another fact I found hard to believe - her "ex" lived right there on the grounds.
For the true romantic maybe the plot is believable, but to me what matters most is believable characters. These weren't.
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written by BookSwimmer on 05/06/2008I usually like Luanne Rice books, but not this one; in fact, I did not even finish reading it. It dragged quite a bit, and was also very depressing. Perhaps this was because it was a sequel, but it certainly did not hold my interest.
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written by BookSwimmer on 05/06/2008This beloved writer DARED to be different, to not write a cookie-cutter 'love-you,love-me' book. Mysticism, stoicism, travel, loving characters (and not-so-loving) on both sides of the ocean - and anguished hearts. What else do you want? This is NOT Michener. WHAT MATTERS MOST, and SANDCASTLES before that, were as refreshing as that breeze off the Sound and re-awakened my interest in this author's work. This story could end no other way from the point of view of people who take commitment or vows to a Higher Authority seriously (precious few of those around nowadays). I HOPE Rice continues THIS story line and to all the nay sayers: get over it - or go back to Danielle Steel.
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