Unraveling the Threads, Book 2 in the Knots Saga
It's 1978, and Patricia Baldt Contreras is practicing medicine in New Bergen, Iowa, at a safe distance from her dysfunctional family. But her tranquility vanishes when her friend Meg receives a shocking letter from Guatemala. The anonymous writer claims that Meg's son J.J., who died in a fire twenty-four years earlier, is alive. Patricia heads for Guatemala, where she is aided by old friends Noemi and Sergio in uncovering the truth. Meanwhile, she clashes with her brother, who is intent on taking over the family's coffee plantation. Through it all, Patricia must find her place in a beloved country descending once again into violence.
Susan Garzon is a former anthropologist, linguist, and teacher of English as a foreign language. She lived for eight years in Latin America, two of those in Guatemala, where she spent much of her time in a Mayan town. Now retired, she lives in Oklahoma with her husband and three cats. She is pleased to have time, at last, to immerse herself in reading and writing fiction.
Reviews of Unraveling the Threads
Bookclubz.com chose Unraveling the Threads as one of their three recommended Indie Books for October 2020.
Unraveling the Threads, (Book 2 of the Knots Saga) is a beautiful novel. An anonymous letter pulls the main character, Patricia Baldt Contreras, back into a chaotic world she believed she'd escaped for good. You'll cheer--and fear--for Patricia as she returns to her native Guatemala to unravel a decades-old mystery and mend her own loose family ties. In Reading the Knots Patricia was a young woman just finding her voice, now she's a physician, an independent woman who's a force to be reckoned with. Unraveling the Threads provides a thrilling and satisfying ending to the Knots Saga, but this delicious mystery is also perfectly capable of standing alone. -Melissa DeCarlo, author of The Art of Crash Landing (HarperCollins/Harper Paperback)
The sequel to Reading the Knots is every bit as engaging as the first book, and just as emotionally wrenching. Back in Guatemala, on a trip from the USA, Patricia teams up with her indigenous friend, Noemi, to solve the mystery of an anonymous letter. A violent confrontation with her brother forces Patricia to make some hard decisions about her future, her mother, and the country she thought she'd left forever. She sees Noemi facing similar challenges as she chooses between an unsatisfactory marriage and her duty to her father. Through their stories, the author examines the questions of family, loyalty, and the power of love to heal loss. With interesting new characters and an intriguing plot, the story moves at a good pace and offers a very satisfactory ending. --Carrie Bedford, author of the Galla Placidia series and the Aura series.
Unraveling the Threads is a wonderful continuation of Susan Garzon's first novel, Reading the Knots, which takes place in Guatemala during the political turbulence of the1950s. This story picks up twenty-four years later with Meg, a character who lost her husband and four-year-old son JJ in a mysterious fire in 1954, and now receives an anonymous message claiming JJ is still alive. Meg contacts her friend, Patricia, a Guatemalan woman now living in the United States, and Patricia volunteers to return to Guatemala in hopes of tracking down the truth. The writer does a wonderful job of showing us how the country has changed, but it also shows us the things that have stayed the same. And this is demonstrated by the events in the life of the book's other main character, Noemi, the indigenous woman whose life, for the most part, continues much the same as that of her ancestors. As a poor woman who has rarely strayed from her village, Noemi's problems are an interesting contrast to Patricia's. The story holds your interest well through several twists and turns, as Noemi helps Patricia unravel the very complicated truth of what happened so many years past. The book culminates in an ending which is not only surprising but very satisfying. If you're looking for a respite from the problems of today, put them aside for a while and disappear into Unraveling the Threads. -Diana Corbitt, author of the Ghosters series.
This novel, a sequel to Reading the Knots, takes readers back to Guatemala, but this time twenty-four years later. It's now 1978, and we rediscover three memorable female characters whose lives become bound by a mystifying quest. In Chicago, Meg, whose four-year-old son died in a fire in 1954, receives a letter from Guatemala assuring her that her son is alive. An accident prevents her from flying to Guatemala, and she appeals to her friend, Patricia, a native Guatemalan, who is now a U.S. citizen living in Iowa, to take her place and find the truth about her son. Patricia returns to the country and the wealthy, dysfunctional family she had fled earlier. With the help of Noemi, a young Mayan woman whose brother she knew, and Sergio, a charismatic Guatemalan activist, Patricia slowly unravels the threads that will explain what happened the night Meg's house burnt to the ground. This book, which evokes the landscapes and multicultural aspects of Guatemala rang true to me, as did all the characters involved in helping Patricia uncover the mystery, and it kept me thinking way after I put it down. -Maryvonne Fent, author of The 35¢ Dowry.
Unravelling the Threads is a multi-dimensional story, combining mystery and romance against the turbulent political background of Guatemala in the late 1970s. Returning to her birthplace from the US, Patricia volunteers as a doctor in a medical clinic and begins to mend her relationship with her mother. Noemi, a young indigenous woman, and Sergio, a former lover, help Patricia make important decisions about her future and assist her in accomplishing her goals. Interesting characters and a colourful background make Unravelling the Threads a story well worth reading. -Gillian Hobbs
