Walsh, Dan and Gary Smalley. The Dance (The Restoration Series #1) Grand Rapids: Revell, 2013.
ISBN 978-0-8007-2148-0 (pbk)
Marilyn Anderson leaves her husband after twenty-seven years
of Christian marriage. She moves from her large beautiful home in an immaculate
residential area of River Oaks. Marilyn now lives in a small two-bedroom
apartment with a new friend. She has taken a job in a small specialty gift shop in the quaint downtown area. She feels freedom and is happier than she has been since she and Jim have begun to experience an empty nest.
For the first time in their married life, her husband, Jim, comes home from work to find no dinner waiting, no wife to greet him, and no clue
there was ever a problem. Jim calls their high-school son Doug, and then their
married son Tom. Neither son has any idea where his mother is nor that anything
is wrong. Even his daughter Michele, who is to be married in a month, will tell
him anything more than there is a note from her mother on his dresser.
What is Marilyn's problem? She has never had to work. She has a beautiful home in an upscale neighborhood. Her husband is prosperous enough to provide all that and more. All he has ever asked is that meals be served on time, she accompany him to an upscale church where he can make business connections, provide parties for his clients... He is clueless.
Marilyn meets with her daughter to discuss the wedding
guest list over lunch. Marilyn shows Michele a gift she has bought just for
herself. They meet Audrey Windsor who admires Marilyn’s new music box with a
dancer on the top. Audrey extends a business card with an invitation to stop by
her dance studio and to sign up for a
dance class. One more thing Marilyn never thought she would do. Marilyn realizes her unhappiness may have started when Jim refused to dance with her on their wedding night.
The dance becomes the metaphor. Both Jim and Marilyn need to
waltz with one another in such away that they create a place of safety for one another. Each of them always must treat their
relationship as partners in a dance that overcomes each of their core fears.
How will God heal Jim’s and Marilyn’s broken lives? Whom
will God choose to help mend Marilyn’s shattered dreams? Is their family broken
beyond repair? Where did the love in Jim and Marilyn’s marriage go? Can it be
renewed, or does that only happen in a new relationship like Michele and
Allan’s.
Once again Dan Walsh creates a tender romance in which God
sets in motion a plan to redeem lives and restore hearts. Walsh’s newest novel
The Dance introduces The Restoration Series. The Dance is based largely on Gary
Smalley’s best-selling book on marriage relationships, The DNA of Relationships
(Smalley Franchise Products), by Gary Smalley, Greg Smalley, Michael Smalley
and Robert S. Paul (Sep 1, 2007).
Readers will be looking forward to other books in this
series by two godly men who believe and live God’s plans for their marriages in
spite of themselves, and share them with each other and with us, as pastors, counselors, and
gifted writers.
I thank the authors and Revell Publishing for providing a
free copy of this book for my unbiased opinion.
5 stars
