The Pianist and the Locksmith
Marilyn R. Stark

THE BOOK

In 1959, 21-year old, Marcie visits her brother and his wife, Shannon. Shannon has been her best friend since they were in grade school at the Flat Rock Children's Home. Marcie's quest to find information about her father forces her mother, SaraElizabeth, known to family and friends as SaraBeth, to recall happenings in Lima, Ohio, during the World War II era and the fictional town of Turtle Crossing.

What would prompt a woman to place her children in a children's home? Marcie's demands jump-start her family into action.

This is Marcie's mother's story and is set in the fictional town of Turtle Crossing; plus Lima, Flat Rock and Bellevue, Ohio.

How many years will SaraBeth live in fear? Will her prayers for her navy captain bring him home safely?

What key secrets are revealed about the Carpenter Aunt's Card Club?

Selected Reviews

"A Mother's Love is the title of a Review by Dr. Richard E. Messer, of "The Pianist and The Locksmith" by Marilyn R. Stark."

"There are several love stories, her own included, that are bound up in the narrative of Marcie's quest to discover the identity of her father, but at every turn the deepest concern of this novel is with the importance of family.

"It is Marcie's mother, SaraElizabeth, who unearths the family's painful secrets. In a vivid and heartfelt series of recollections, she slowly reveals the motives for her seemingly hardhearted decisions.The gripping story of SaraElizabeth's tortured motherhood and her persecution at the hands of a few family members renders her as a strong, memorable character.

"The author dramatizes a truth that we often overlook in our hectic, fragmented lives today: that the problems that originate in family life can only be solved through family interaction, love, and good will.

"So much of this novel is built upon the fact that the deepest truths of our lives are secrets and that these secrets cannot be offered up at a given moment, that I feel even more sharply than usual the reviewer's hesitation to give away crucial twists and turns in the plot. I will say that Marcie's deepest longings for family do not go unsatisfied by the novel's end. To what extent? Ah, read on."

—Richard Messer, Professor Emeritus of English and Creative Writing, is a native Coloradan and received his Ph.D. at the University of Denver. A writer of fiction, poetry and scholarly articles relating literature to Jungian psychology, Dr. Messer has published in many magazines, including, The Nation, The Christian Science Monitor, The Black Warrior Review, The Sun, Anima, Pigiron, South Dakota Review, The Journal of Evolutionary Psychology and on the Internet at University of Oklahoma Review.edu, Kota.com, Ascent.com and Carve.com. He is the author of a book of poetry and prose, Murder in the Family, Bottom Dog Press, 1995, which was awarded the 1996 Nancy Dasher award by the College English Association of Ohio.

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to the men, and women who served in the Armed Forces. To their families, while waiting for their loved ones to return home, worked in the factories turning out whatever the military needed -- and kept Lima's Railroad Canteen operational -- which served thousands of troops as they passed through.

Acknowledgement

A special thank you: to George Mayer for sharing memories about his time served in the navy. To John Potter of Marathon Electric for trying to teach me how a rotor is wound, and how the product performs. To Fred Taber who shared railroad information. And, to my patient editor, Karan Longbrake, who has helped me through the indecisive moments.

THE AUTHOR

Marilyn Stark, a business college graduate, has written her husband’s family history — was feature writer for a senior’s paper and author of a fabulous local county pictorial history.

Marilyn is the author of The Flutist and the Dancer

"The Pianist and The Locksmith" is the second in the Donnelly/Warren/Carpenter Family Series. The first is "The Flutist and The Dancer". Look for the third, "Broken Arrows/Broken Promises" coming in 2003.

Previous Books by this author:

"A Pictorial History of Lima/Allen County, Ohio"

"The History and Purposes of Allen County Buildings, Institutions & Government"

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