Old Heart
A Novel
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Tom Johnson has turned 85 and has suffered a few “events,” though he knows his mind is sharp. His oldest son, who had Down Syndrome has died, and his remaining two children want to move him out of the homestead lake house and into a retirement home in town. What Tom wants to do is to find the only woman he ever loved, a woman he met in the Netherlands where he was stationed during World War II.
And so he slips away, deftly covers his tracks, and begins his search for her in Eindhoven. While his children try to track him down and then have him extradited back home, Tom delves into love and loss and the value of memory. Soon he catches sight of a woman he believes to be Sarah, the love he lost almost a lifetime ago.
He will have to fight for her affections and forgiveness, even as he fights for the legal right to stay in the Netherlands in the name of love and family and all the remaining rights of an old man.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this standout novel, Ferry (Travel Writing) depicts one man's post-WWII struggle with love, loss, and personal freedom. Widower Tom Johnson is an 85-year-old retired Midwestern schoolteacher who's secretly planning to search for his first love of 60 years ago, a Dutch translator named Sarah van Praag. Before Tom was shipped home from a post in the Netherlands, he and Sarah quarreled and never said goodbye. He returned to America, married and had three children; a disappointing marriage has always left Tom wondering about Sarah and the divergent paths they took. When his children insist on moving him to assisted living, Tom carefully plans his exit for Holland without telling anyone but his trusted granddaughter. Surprises and setbacks challenge Tom as he searches for Sarah; he is forced to fight his children in court for the freedom to remain abroad and live on his own terms. A lesser writer might muddle the myriad themes and shifting time frames, but Ferry's superb writing including a deft treatment of a story within a story allow them all to mesh seamlessly, resulting in a life-affirming novel about love and second chances; the rights, integrity, and freedom of the elderly; and the toll of mistakes and disappointments. Tom counsels himself near the end: "ife is both tragic and beautiful... every day is a carefully wrapped present."
