THE PECULIAR MIRACLES OF ANTOINETTE MARTIN by Stephanie Knipper

Lily Martin hasn't been home or spoken to her sister in over six years. All that changes, however, when Ruby calls her and tells her she has congestive heart failure and needs her to come home. Ruby has kept the family farm running, living with her ten year old daughter, Antoinette. Antoinette has autism but she also has a special gift, one that Ruby has tried to keep secret from everyone around her. Only one other person knows Ruby and Antoinette's secret- Seth Hastings, her neighbor and the man who still haunts Lily. Can Lily learn to cope with Antoinette's idiosyncrasies?

The main focus of THE PECULIAR MIRACLES OF ANTOINETTE MARTIN is on Antoinette, a young girl coping with her disability. I love the glimpses we get into her mindset as she struggles to find nonverbal ways to communicate the range of emotions and thoughts she shares. The author, Stephanie Knipper, has a daughter with disabilities and her love and understanding shine through clearly in Antoinette's character.

I also enjoyed Lily and her quirks. However, I struggled with the rest of the story overall. I wanted to like THE PECULIAR MIRACLES OF ANTOINETTE MARTIN a lot more than I did. The romance fell just a bit flat to me and the ending, while touching, wasn't unexpected. The storyline seemed to wander off in several different directions and I found myself wanting to get back to the parts focusing on Antoinette.

THE PECULIAR MIRACLES OF ANTOINETTE MARTIN by Stephanie Knipper is a surprisingly light read considering the weightiness of the topics addressed. If you like women's fiction with a dash of magical realism, then THE PECULIAR MIRACLES OF ANTOINETTE MARTIN may just be your cup of tea.

In the spirit of Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s The Language of Flowers--and with a touch of the magical--The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin is a spellbinding debut about a wondrously gifted child and the family that she helps to heal. Sisters Rose and Lily Martin were inseparable when growing up on their family’s Kentucky flower farm yet became distant as adults when Lily found herself unable to deal with the demands of Rose’s unusual daughter. But when Rose becomes ill, Lily is forced to return to the farm and to confront the fears that had driven her away. Rose’s daughter, ten-year-old Antoinette, has a form of autism that requires constant care and attention. She has never spoken a word, but she has a powerful gift that others would give anything to harness--she can heal with her touch. She brings wilted flowers back to life, makes a neighbor’s tremors disappear, and even changes the course of nature on the flower farm. Antoinette’s gift, though, comes at a price, since each healing puts her own life in jeopardy. As Rose--the center of her daughter’s life--struggles with her own failing health and Lily confronts her anguished past, the sisters, and the men who love them, come to realize the sacrifices that must be made to keep this very special child safe. Written with great heart and a deep understanding of what it feels like to be different, The Peculiar Miracles of Antoinette Martin is a novel about what it means to be family and about the lengths to which people will go to protect the ones they love.

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THE PECULIAR MIRACLES OF ANTOINETTE MARTIN
Stephanie Knipper

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