Wrapped in Rain
A Novel of Coming Home

Charles Martin

When Tucker and Matthew Mason were young, their father had two attitudes for them. He either ignored them or beat them. Neither of them knew their mother, two different women. They were raised in a small community in Alabama as the sons of a wealthy white man. The woman who raised them, Ella Rain, was the hired black maid. She put up with Rex Mason only because of Tuck and Mutt. Fortunately, Rex spent the majority of his time in Atlanta.

Now the boys are grown. Miss Ella died seven years earlier. Rex Mason has Alzheimer's and lives in a long term care facility. Mutt was admitted to a mental institution after Miss Ella's funeral. His doctor doesn't expect Mutt will ever be able to live on his own again. Tuck is a world reknown photographer, spending little time at home. He spends most of his time on the road, ignoring the life he had had.

But life catches up to a person. As Tuck returns home from a photography trip to the Caribbean, two people enter his life, one a long lost freind and his boyhood crush. Then he gets a phone call. Mutt has escaped from the institution. And in his mind Miss Ella keeps counseling him, even though he doesn't always want to listen to what she is saying.

When Miss Ella died Tuck did the one thing he vowed to do as a child. She wouldn't permit it. He hated his father and wanted no ties to the man. Tuck became Tucker Rain. Eventually, Mutt also dropped Mason and becomes Matthew Rain. Miss Ella had been their protector when they were children. They still need her as adults as they finally face up to their pasts.

My daughter works in a gift shop and book store. She picked up this book because she needed something to read and didn't have her book in progress with her while she was on some down time at work. When she finished it she recommended it to me. This wasn't the normal "You should read this book, Mom. It's good. You'd like it." Instead I received a vehement "You've got to read this book, Mom! It is soooo good." So I reserved it from the library.

When it came in a couple weeks later I had forgotten where I had learned about it. I read the secondary part of the title, "A Novel of Coming Home" and put it aside. I was in the mood for light reading because class was stressful. Three weeks passed and it came up for renewal. I almost returned it, then decided to keep it again. Two days later she recommended the book again. So I picked it up and started reading it slowly. The first third took me a while because I only took ten minutes here are there to read. But I was getting pulled in. By the time I was half way through I was rearranging class work to find time to read. By the end I was crying.

My daughter is right. Wrapped in Rain is a moving, well-written book. Some people may find it a bit schmaltzy. I found it fascinating. I knew it was written by a Christian author, but it is not written in a sweet "everything will be right with God" voice. That final message comes through, but life will not be the proverbial "happily-ever-after" in the Rain family. Instead, it will be better and they have the strength to keep going. This is an inspiring book.

Notice: Non-graphic violence

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