Swallowtail by Sheri Meshal
Chicago wife, mother and finance executive Claire Cummings, arrives at work one morning to discover her friend Julia has embezzled millions and vanished. Blindsided and devastated by the betrayal, she’s sent home pending further investigation. Claire’s bizarre death the following day sends everyone reeling, guessing and looking for her in all the wrong places. In no time she’s addicted to an enchanting menagerie of tricks and techniques for getting the living’s attention, but most people are harder to reach than she’d ever dreamed and even harder to set free.
She was still a mother, a wife, a daughter and a friend… she’d move heaven
Sheri Meshal’s Swallowtail is a haunting story about life, love, loss and just how far we’ll go to control it all and earth to keep it that way.
This debut from a thought-provoking new voice in fiction begs the question… what would you do if all the rules changed, and you were suddenly bestowed powers beyond your greatest imagination?
My Review of Swallowtail
This book was one of the best that I’ve read in quite some time and one that I know I will read again…and again! Anyone that has lost a loved one will be able to relate to many of the moments in Swallowtail. That moment when you just KNOW that you’re in the presence of complete love – even when you’re seemingly alone. There were a few moments when it got a little “too technical” for me but overall the characters, story line, everything flowed. Once I began reading, I was connected and on an emotional roller coaster. Once I finished, I had to pause and truly reflect on what I’d taken in. It was definitely all good!
Swallowtail opened my eyes and mind to the possibilities of what would happen if I just wasn’t here one moment. What were the last words spoken to my children? Did I kiss my husband good bye? Have I left a legacy that will carry them through the grieving process and will allow them to have fond memories to look back on and share? Have I truly made the most of the moments that matter the most? After I leave this earth, will there be regrets of missed moments or will my loved ones find comfort in the moments of love and laughter that we shared?
About the Author
Sheri Meshal spent most of her childhood on an old farm in Iowa. She is an author by day and chauffeur by night… for a tad bit longer. Swallowtail took over six years to write and was inspired by bizarre events which occurred shortly after her father’s passing in 1998. Best friends, they’d engaged in countless conversations regarding the possibility of life after death and enjoyed sharing books on the subject years before he was diagnosed with lung cancer. After a myriad of unexplainable events, Sheri realized had she died first, she would’ve done everything in her power to get her father’s attention and show him all the things she could do.
Her father had informed her that she was a writer long before she could begin to accept the possibility. In her heart, she knew he should’ve been the writer, and if she did
possess any talent for it, it was due to his DNA. She began writing for both of them and often wondered if he helped her, as crucial research repeatedly found its way to her by the strangest means. When she met medium Jonathan Louis, he desperately tried to avoid a cliché topic.
Exasperated, he finally gave in saying, “I don’t want to say this. Whenever I do, the room goes crazy. Sometimes it just is what it is and nothing more, but what does it mean when I say the word butterfly to you?” Overcome with emotion, she confessed she’d written a novel titled Swallowtail about a dead woman communicating with her friends and family. He answered softly with a smile, “He helps you.”
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I received this book to review through Beck Valley Books Book Tours, all the opinions above are 100% my own.