Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes!

Sistersicks in Wooden Shoes! by Robin Jones Gunn, published by Multnomah, is one of the BEST fun books I've read in a long time.  It may be the whole timing of the read, too.  In less than five weeks now, my best friend is coming to visit in Central Illinois from Washington state.

The book begins with a middle-aged empty-nester, Summer, from Midwest United States, who receives some disturbing news from her doctor.  Instead of facing it head-on, she decides to run to her best friend, Noelle, in the Netherlands.  They found each other as pen pals in grade school and kept up their relationship all their lives.  They wrote letters and later as technology improved, they emailed but have never once seen each other in person.

I laughed so much as I read this because the characters kept switching between my best friend and myself.  The silly situations they got themselves into reminded me of the crazy things we went and go through, too.  Some not so funny at the time but now we can laugh about them.

Even though Summer was in denial about her health situation, God followed her to Noelle's house and spoke to her through each experience.  Summer learned many things about herself as she lived a week of her life with her friend.  Noelle 'gently persuaded' Summer to milk a cow.  This is what Summer learned from the experience.

"This is pretty amazing," I said a few moments later.  My voice was more soothing than it had been earlier.  "I feel very organic.  I need to have a piece of straw hanging out the side of my mouth."

Noelle smiled.  "I wish I had my camera.  You're a little Dutch barn maid."

"I don't think I'll need a picture to remember that I did this."

"It's pretty cool doing things you wouldn't normally do, isn't it?"  (pg. 114)

I don't want to ruin the book for you so I won't mention rental bikes that fall into the canal or 2 women who sail in a wooden shoe.  I sure wouldn't want to say anything about pesky sea gulls, either.  Awesome book.  Perfect for middle-aged women who have friends who are in another city, another state, or maybe even across an ocean.  We all crave friendship; maybe even more as we grow older.

If you want some big smiles and some giggles, please read this book.  I must warn you, there might be some tears that come along with it, too.  Where two good friends come together, tears inevitably follow: tears of healing and joy.  Thank you Robin Jones Gunn for a book written just for me, for just a time as this!