Review: "Avonelle's Gift" by Nova Scheller

This was a unique story of Nova Scheller’s family history. It is a blend of facts that she gathered from family and various documents and fiction. Her saga starts with her great grandparents in the early 1900’s. She begins her chronicle with an explanation of how both her grandparents lost their mothers at an early age and how one ends up living in an orphanage and the other with relatives. She continues forward and explains the good and bad of their relationship and what life dealt them. She follows their lives up until her grandfather’s death in 1964.

This was a very interesting novel. The author had a great mixture of fact and fiction that enabled the story to flow smoothly and read as a tale. She did not judge or apologize for choices that were made by her ancestors. Because the story was told without judgment, you were drawn into the story and it read more as a novel than a family history. I utterly enjoyed the book from beginning to end.

I recommend this book if you are looking for a great story. Although a family history, the author weaves fact with a rare storytelling ability that makes this a page turner that you will not want to put down.