In The Whispered Word by Ellery Adams, the four women who form the Secret, Book, and Scone Society have decided to try to raise morale in Miracle Springs, NC by dropping off secret gifts at the homes of those who seem most troubled in the aftermath of the crash of the local bank. Then an overly thin young woman wearing a dress that she swims in and a hospital wrist band shows up at Nora Pennington’s store, Miracle Books, needing help. Calling herself Abilene Tyler, the young woman shows an incredible knowledge of books and gets hired by Nora part- time. When the four women start out to deliver their gift packages, they start at the house of a particularly negative woman, but Nora finds the woman, Amanda Fry, floating dead in a filthy pond at her house.
Though the police seem ready to label the death a suicide, Nora believes otherwise because Amanda would not have treated her books as badly as some books in the house were left. When Kenneth Fry brings a rare book to Nora for an appraisal, she is certain it belonged to his mother despite the her having left the books to someone else. Further, Nora finds evidence that Abilene hasn’t been straight with them about her connection to Amanda Fry, but as Hester, owner of the Gingerbread House, has taken Abilene under her wing, especially after discovering what a gifted baker Abilene is, this has the potential to tear about the still-new Secret, Book, and Scone Society.
The Whispered Word is the sequel to last year’s highly received The Secret, Book, and Scone Society, and it promises to be just as successful. Despite a strong mystery plot, the book contains so much more than just an exciting mystery. It features powerful messages about the value of women’s working together to support each other and help each other heal from both physical and emotional damage. But this book also contains the women helping men, in particular Nora’s new love interest, Jed Craig, an EMT who has damage in his own personal life that Nora begins to help him cope with.
Nora serves as a bibliotherapist, in which role she offers suggestions of various books that will aid people with their issues. The books do not consist of the typical self- help books but instead a combination of fiction and non- fiction books that will help her customers face their issues in a new light. This book contains numerous references to existing books, showing a huge range of genres and topics of books that made me intrigued to want to look some up.
Chris Dukehart performs the audio edition of this book and does a powerful job of interpreting this most powerful book. She makes the book seem all the more effective and relatable as she draws the reader into experiencing the characters as genuine friends and the situations as ones we witness in person.
The Whispered Word has proven to be one of my favorite books of 2018, combining as it does the strength of a good mystery that only Adams can create as well as the empowering message of the value of working together to help each other heal and serve others less fortunate. I highly recommend it, but if you haven’t read The Secret, Book, and Scone Society, I’d recommend starting with that one to understand the dynamics going on among the women. I give this book a hearty five stars!
To purchase this book for yourself, click here on Amazon.
