Flight Patterns

By: Karen White

Narrated by: Susan Bennett, Amanda Leigh Cobb, Melissa Hurst

The New York Times best-selling author of The Sound of Glass and coauthor of The Forgotten Room tells the story of a woman coming home to the family she left behind - and to the woman she always wanted to be.

Georgia Chambers has spent her life sifting through other people's pasts while trying to forget her own. But then her work as an expert on fine china - especially Limoges - requires her to return to the one place she swore she'd never revisit.

It's been 13 years since Georgia left her family home on the coast of Florida, and nothing much has changed except that there are fewer oysters and more tourists. She finds solace in seeing her grandfather still toiling away in the apiary where she spent much of her childhood, but encountering her estranged mother and sister leaves her rattled. Seeing them after all this time makes Georgia realize that something has been missing - and unless she finds a way to heal these rifts, she will forever be living vicariously through other people's remnants. To embrace her own life - mistakes and all - she will have to find the courage to confront the ghosts of her past and the secrets she was forced to keep.

©2016 Harley House Books, LLC (P)2016 Recorded Books

Fascinating

Excellent story that is intertwined with the art & necessity of bee tending. Heart wrenching family tale from the horrors of WWII to the present. Although I could guess most of the plot twists, the resolution of much sorrow to happiness and love of family were as philosophical as the cycle of bees and honey.

Not my favorite story, but that's probably because

...it hit so close to home having just discovered through DNA testing that my dad is not my dad. The child in this story suffers her entire life b/c of choices the adults made and all the secrets kept. The story just reeks of extreme narcissism, which we should not relabel as "love too much". The only adult who made honorable and self-sacrificing choices in this story is the father. The daughter is the victim. Everyone else is codependent and narcissistic.

Narration is good. Story overall is just "okay", terribly tragic, nothing even remotely humorous or uplifting.

Lesson to be learned: No secrets, tell the truth, do not serve "self". Anything different leads to lifelong tragedy.

Mastery of Karen White

Karen White is a master of family secrets and mystery. There was only one part that I predicted. Her newest book is a beautiful story of healing and forgiveness. I'll be listening to it again and again.

It was okay

Every chapter begins with a bee quote. Something awful had happened in the family years ago. For most of the book it was mentioned over and over but that something wasn't revealed for three quarters of the book. The book dragged at times for me.

Beautifully written, intriguing

Loved it, characters very well developed. Looked forward to listening and had a hard time putting it down.