The Fig Tree

Rating:
Summary: WOW! What a great book!
Review: Funny, touching, and yes, shocking, the main character of this book should be an inspiration to all women! Katherine has been raised to be the ideal Catholic wife and mother . . . demure, submissive, all-forgiving and loyal to a fault. Nevertheless, she gets up the courage to divorce her unfaithful, impossible husband and to take her 8 children in search of a new life for all of them. She soon realizes that she has developed an unseemly passion for her parish priest. Casting off the last traces of her convent school background, Katherine decides to pursue the priest's love and to make her life what SHE wants it to be.

And her depiction of the Catholic Church! WELL, that should send some eyebrows (and blood pressure levels) sky high! With all the scandals in the news today, this is the first story I've seen that gives some idea of just why these things are happening, and why so many of the clergy seem so out of touch with real life. The author just rips the doors off some of the mysteries and hidden aspects of clerical life!

I raced for this book every night and couldn't stand to put it down. I felt as if I were entering a different world. Bonn's description of life with 8 children is hilarious yet touching. She gives you a real feel for a time when anything and everything seemed possible. I was sorry when I finished this book, but the dynamic Katherine stays in my heart and inspires me to go for what I really want!

Rating:
Summary: I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me!
Review: Great read!
This timely examination of what it is to be a Catholic woman or a Roman Catholic priest in today's world is a page turner. Author Maragaret Bonn's heroine, Katherine is a divorcee with eight children who is carried away on the wings of fantasy to never-never land. Bonn's description of the San Fernando Valley setting is pure poetry as she takes us through this hilarious tale of clandestine meetings and prohibited love. Pick it up and read it. You won't regret it!

Rating:
Summary: Forbidden love is very exciting!
Review: Kathrine is a very likeable heroine in this story. As a single Mom, pursuing a meaningful relationship is a challenging task, especially with eight children in tow. She meets all she encounters with a wonderful sense of humor. The Fig Tree is a great read!

Rating:
Summary: The Fig Tree
Review: Margaret Bonn is a gifted story teller who addresses a timely subject matter with wisdom, sensitivity, and great dollops of humor. Her wonderfully descriptive passages, scattered throughout the book like colorful Easter eggs- "Two horses galloped in a field, misty smoke rose from the grass as they ran. . .calves trampled the clover in their play or stared round in drunk joy" and "The palm trees stood like overgrown Hawaiian maidens, eight and ten hula skirts to their knees, their frowzy coifs limp in the muggy afternoon"-bordered on the poetic and brought the story vividly to life.

Rating:
Summary: I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me!
Review: This is a fun book, a real page-turner, and GREAT summer reading! I loved it!