Born in the village of Easkey, Ireland just before World War II, Cara Brannan dreams of becoming a nurse and starting a new life in America. Her mother, an Irish suffragette, encourages Cara to set goals and be fiercely independent. She moves to Dublin and begins nurses training at Saint John’s Hospital, forging friendships and encountering obstacles as a young single woman. Then she meets Aiden Whyte. Like-minded, Cara and Aiden join forces, marry, and journey to the States as newlyweds.
Welcoming their son Caleb into the world, Cara embraces motherhood. As a new mother and nurse in New York City, she struggles, facing class conflict, career barriers, and loneliness. Cara endures because of her strength of character, compassion, and an irrepressible joy of life.
As Caleb comes of age, it’s his turn to carve out a place for himself during the late 1960s—a time of turbulence, protest, and incredible change. He finds New York to be a challenge but filled with opportunity.
Caleb’s Window will quietly move into your heart and mind, remaining long after you turn the final page.
Caleb's Window is the second novel by John J. Siefring, author of An Important Day. I was so taken with An Important Day, that I've been waiting for Siefring's second offering. It does not disappoint!
Caleb's Window is a generational saga about young Cara Brannan, an Irish girl who grew up during WWII, wants to become a nurse and ultimately move to America. As in Mr. Siefring's first book, his phrasing and both his physical and emotional descriptions are so rich and full that the characters and happenings seem very real to this reader. I even found myself reading with an Irish-lilt!
I love the character of Cara! She is strong, independent, compassionate, lively, and a woman not willing to subdue or stifle her dreams for a man. I also enjoyed the author's rich descriptions of Cara's various relationships; with her family, friends, co-workers, husband, his family, and especially their son Caleb. All of them ring deep and true. The importance of love and loyalty of family and the joy that the families had in each other cannot be over-appreciated.
The author does an excellent job of covering the world events as Cara arrives from Ireland through when Caleb reaches adulthood. This gives a great time perspective and shows what was coloring the personal worlds of the characters.
There were several favorite phrasings or sentences in the book that I highlighted; here are three of them:
"Never, ever forget the power to heal with the comfort of your words and actions, a touch, a look."
"It's perhaps best we don't always know that we have approached a space and time when what we say or do is so crucial as to possibly determine the direction another life will take."
"We are all the same. The sun shines its light on big and small, rich or poor, most especially, the kind."
Altogether, I found Caleb's Window a good, heartwarming read and highly recommend it to others. 4.5 stars from me!! Kudos to the author for providing a second novel as intimate and warm as his first! -- Kathryn Fuchs, Amazon
