Flight Patterns

By: Karen White
Publisher: New American Library
Publication Date: May 2016
ISBN: 978-0-451-47091-1
Reviewed by: Diana Hettinger
Review Date: May 17, 2016

How happily can you live while running from your past? Apparently, Georgia Chambers thinks she can live very happily on her own in New Orleans. Having left her home ten years ago, Georgia immersed herself in a world of antiques and the stories of others in order to occupy her mind and time. The less she thought about her mistakes and the less she saw her family, the better. Georgia has not seen or spoken to her sister, Maisy, in the ten years she’s been away. Those ten years have been filled with bitterness, resentment, and constant running from a past they used to know and share together. When her job demands that she return home, Georgia is forced to face her past and ends up unearthing a family secret that threatens to unravel them all, even more so than they already are.

Heading home to a place Georgia does not want to go is hard enough on her own. It’s even harder with her client, James, in tow. Not only does she have to face her younger sister and her daughter Becky, but she has to face her estranged mother, Birdie, who does not speak and is prone to random episodes ever since finding an old suitcase in the attic. They all live in one house with her grandfather, a local beekeeper, who has devoted his life to the study of bees and honey. This is reason enough for Georgia to not want to return, however, by going home and bringing James, it means she must confront her past and now someone else will bear witness to it, as well. Flight Patterns puts together a brutal past, an unknown family secret, and a little mystery. What could go wrong?

Having a sister, I found this an extremely relevant book. The rivalries and different personalities present between Georgia and Maisy mimic those of my younger sister and I. This enabled me to place myself in the story and think about what I would do and what I would have done under the same tragedies and circumstances that Georgia and Maisy faced. Would I have run from the past like Georgia because my mistakes were too hard to face? Would I have let anger rule my life because it is easier to blame someone else and the truth is too hard to face like Maisy? Or would I have stayed and fought because as sisters, burdens are shared and it is a connection like no other. White weaves a tale that will force you to place yourself in this family's shoes and will pull you in with the slight mysteries and twists in the plot. Never having read anything by Karen White before, I look forward to going back and reading each one of her books. I can only hope that they are as addictive and well-written as Flight Patterns.

Quill says: Flight Patterns is a light mystery that is well-executed and able to give a sense of perspective and hope to anyone who needs to face a rough past and forgive in order to move on.